Second Chance
by storytell18
Summary: What if Slade's plan in "Betrayed, Cast Off, Angry" succeeded? What if Slade reset time to when the Titans were formed? Now, he intends on redoing things so Raven becomes his apprentice. Can it be stopped? Will Raven realize what she is turning into? Rated T for violence, language, and some suggestive material/nudity.
1. Battle to Go

**Author's Notes**

With this story, I will be alternating between this and "The Dark Army". Like "The Dark Army", this will be a fifteen chapter or so follow-up to "Betrayed, Cast Off, Angry", with this story being the alternative scenario (if Slade's plans had actually succeeded and he reset time). Like "The Dark Army", this will be rated T. Oh, and I suggest reading this if you plan on reading "The Dark Army", as there will be elements from this story that tie into that one, as you'll find out this chapter.

Tonally, this will be akin to "Betrayed, Cast Off, Angry" but also a bit more like "The Dark Army" as a sci-fi mystery/crime story. Hopefully this tonal difference won't matter too much to you.

The overall structure of this story will be inspired by Lord-of-Change's story "The Mercenary", with episodes from the series (in this case season 1) being rewritten to support Slade's new view on Raven and his new plans with the success of the URB from "Betrayed, Cast Off, Angry". A lot of the elements will be the same from the show, but there will be quite a few differences you'll see.

Now, let's begin the story.

* * *

Raven, Jinx, and Kid Flash arrived in the Keyola building in Bucharest where Raven had tracked the URB device, only to be met by stiff opposition in the lobby in the form of dozens of Slade-bots. Slade had locked himself in with the URB deep in the basement of the building and set wards that prevented Raven from teleporting in or Kid Flash from vibrating in.

Raven unleashed a burst of soul-self energy onto the Slade-bots, knocking a lot of them down as Kid Flash and Jinx began to work on the rest. Jinx fired pink hexes into many of the Slade-bots, which caused their chests to explode and knocked them down, as dead as a deactivated robot could be. Kid Flash was zipping through the Slade-bots, quickly ripping off their limbs as he delivered blows to their heads.

Their attacks were effective, but the Slade-bots were holding an advantage in numbers. While delivering a rapid attack to a Slade-bot, Kid Flash was knocked out by another Slade-bot behind him. Jinx's hexes were effective but they were only good for one at a time as Slade-bots overwhelmed her and made it hard for her to use her hexes against them.

Raven was trying to avoid the Slade-bots while trying to take them down and save her captive allies, but she was surrounded and soon winded by a surprise blast to the shoulder. The three were overwhelmed and about to be taken down when unexpected help showed up. Truly unexpected help.

Melvin, Timmy, and Teether rode in on Bobby who then began his attack on the remaining Slade-bots, destroying them to save Kid Flash, Jinx, and Raven.

Karen the Dove soon flew in to finish off the remaining Slade-bots, delivering powerful attacks through flapping its wing to send Slade-bots crashing into the wall.

Raven got up and said, "Thanks guys. I thought you were told to stay at the monastery."

Melvin countered, "You didn't tell us not to come here."

Raven replied, "Touche. Now we have to move."

With that, the three Titans and the three kids moved through the basement, rushing to find Slade and where he was. They only had a little time left before the URB could be activated and finally used.

In his base in the Keyola basement, Slade patiently watched the monitor as it rapidly began to increase. _Ninety percent charged. Ninety-one percent charged. Ninety-two percent charged_.

The Titans made their way to the bottom of the basement, where they saw a massive door, which they theorized was where Slade had the URB. Now all they needed was a way inside to get in and defeat Slade.

Jinx tried firing a hex at the door, hoping it would cause the door to fall down, but the door was so heavily reinforced that Jinx's hexes would have no impact on it. Kid Flash tried vibrating through, but he soon discovered that the door was covered in wards that prevented entry. Raven used some of her black energy to try to lift the door or break it down, but it ultimately was unable to have any effect on it.

Since the door was not glass, Timmy was essentially useless in getting in. Melvin sent Bobby and Karen to attack the door to bring it down. They had slightly more of an effect than the others but they were only able to bang the door. It was up to Teether as the monitor on the URB now read _Ninety-six percent charged._

Teether climbed onto the banged door and began to chew threw it, quickly creating a large hole through the door that the Titans were able to get through. Raven picked up Teether and put him on Karen as they looked for Slade and the URB, but there were quite a few doors.

Raven used her empathy to try to sense where Slade was, discovering that there was a significant amount of energy coming from the door on the left. Jinx used a hex to take it down and revealed another door. They quickly went through the doors, trying to beat the clock.

However, they were not lucky as the monitor on the URB now read _Fully charged. Ready to activate_. With that, Slade pressed the master button on the URB, beginning the reset, which would be a three minute process.

Slade began to make his exit, confident that the reset could not be stopped. However, before he could make it through a door, he encountered the party. Not knowing who they were, Slade charged at the brightly-colored one of the bunch. However, before he could attack, he found himself impaled with a black bolt.

The lights grew brighter as Raven walked up towards Slade, who was beginning to die from his wounds. Raven said, "I'm sorry Slade. It had to be done."

Slade responded, "Never be sorry for what you have to do, Raven. Even if you had no choice. I crossed a line. I know that now. And you did what you promised you'd do."

Raven said, "Is it too late to stop the device?"

Slade calmly said, "Not yet. It can be stopped." He slumped over, finally at peace with himself as his eye closed for the last time.

Quickly the six rushed into the next room and saw the URB device, getting ready to activate in one massive pulse that would reset the universe. Raven went to the monitor to see if it could be stopped by there, but the monitor had shut down, making it impossible to just turn off the button to stop it.

Timmy had a solution, however. He quickly unleashed a small screech that shattered the glass on the URB. Raven had a way to shut it down - she could grab the activation energy she put in and deactivate the device.

Raven told the others, "You may want to move away. This will be powerful."

Raven's eyes glew white as black energy quickly flew from her hands into two ports on the URB exposed by Teether, and soon her eyes and chakra both began to unleash dark energy as well.

However, her own energy was beginning to be pushed out, meaning it was beginning to counter it, perhaps rooted too deeply to be removed, indicating that the URB was hanging on. Time was quickly ticking away, as maybe a minute remained before the reset would begin and be permanent.

Raven was persistent. She would refuse to lose. Refuse to let time reset just to make things better again. She knew things were what they were, and nothing could change that. She had to stop the device and began infusing more and more energy into it, beginning to exhaust her.

Raven said in huffed, loud breaths, "Azarath, metrion, zinthos." Raven's power flooded the device, trying to shut it down but it kept going, not shutting down.

At last, the URB's color changed to a bright blue as the reset had been signaled to be complete. Raven mouthed, "No" as a massive pulse soon emitted from the URB across the universe.

Instantly, all of those who had died came back to life while all those who were born went back to being unborn - all of the damage done was undone and all of the repairs were damaged just as they were on April 24, 2015 - the day the Teen Titans officially formed.

The provosional blank came along soon, quickly shifting the crust of the Earth before reshaping it back to the date of which Slade set the URB.

* * *

April 24, 2015. The universal reset button had accomplished its purpose - time had been reset and Slade's plans had succeeded. It was early in the morning where Slade was beginning to watch the Titans following the aftermath of their battle with the Gordonian slavers that tried to reclaim Starfire - and failed.

On the island that would become Titans Tower, the Titans were talking now that the Gordonian ship had been crashed. Green Lantern arrived and brought the Gordonians into custody, bringing them to Oa for trial and imprisonment, which brought relief to the alien that was their prisoner - Starfire.

Starfire was currently changing out of her slave outfit - which had convinently been picked by Blackfire to remind her of who was on top - and into a set of Tamaranean clothing - purple and gray stitching that took the form of a short tank top and a pair of shorts. As Tamaranean clothing went, it was amongst the most revealing, especially for Starfire.

Raven, who had finally decided to show her real face to the Titans, commented "That's quite a view."

Cyborg added, "Somebody ought to build a house out here."

Beast Boy then joked, "Yeah if you like sunshine, and the beach."

Raven cut in, commenting, "You know, you're kind of funny."

Beast Boy, whose eyes quickly glimmered, cut in with, "You think I'm funny? Woohoo! Dude I know some jokes."

That last statement instantly made Raven nervous as she tugged on her collar - Raven never wanted to hear another joke from Beast Boy again. That first one was awful, and God knows what would be next.

Soon after, Starfire came onto the island near the other four Titans, now dressed in clothing that is more suited for a Tamaranean than for the Citadel slave.

Starfire inquired, "Please, I look...nice?"

Robin took a good look at Starfire while the others were in silouhette and responded, "Yes, but I still don't know your name."

Starfire said, "On my world, it would be Koriand'r. In your language, it would be Starfire."

Robin then spoke, "Welcome to Earth, Starfire."

She then added, "I thank you all for your bravery and help and I wish to ask permission to remain here. Where the people are most strange, but also most kind."

Raven then interrupted with, "You don't need our permission, Starfire..."

Robin continued with, "But if you want our friendship, you got it."

Cyborg added, "Guess we could all use some new friends."

Beast Boy added, "Besides, we kind of make a good team."

Robin said soon after, "I thought we might want to keep in touch, so Cyborg and I designed these." With that, Robin pulled out five yellow communicators, which lack the T-insignia that identifies them as a Titan communicator, and gives one to Beast Boy, one to Raven, one to Starfire, and one to Cyborg. The first three Titans are instantly impressed with them.

Cyborg then comments, "Made them out of my own circuits."

Robin triumphantly spoke, "When there's trouble, you know who to call."

* * *

Slade was watching this all from his lair when suddenly he realized there was somebody else in the room. Slade turned around to see himself, but this one had an electric blue fill rather than the normal black fill.

Slade spoke to the other self, "What do you want?"

The other Slade, which we'll call Slade-P, responded, "To give you a message."

Slade asked, "From who?"

Slade-P responded, "Me. Yourself four years from now."

"What is it?"

"The Boy Wonder is a waste of time. The team has another gem, the girl."

"The alien?"

"No. Raven."

"The witch?", Slade spoke as he looked at the monitor, before continuing, "She has no value to me. She has no physical strength. Her power comes from spells and otherwise she is powerless. What good would she have for me? What is her value?"

Slade-P responded, "She is the Gem of Skaath. The daughter of Trigon the Terrible. She has powers unmatched by anyone. She is the team's most powerful member by a long shot. She is not to be underestimated."

"That has given me a lot to think about."

"And her personality, it exactly like ours. Reclusive, dark, mysterious. Robin may have your fighting style and drive to win, but she could practically be your daughter. She and us are so much alike. I suggest that you begin making preparations to go after her. You'll never succeed with the Boy Wonder even if you use his friends as bait, especially since Raven can heal herself and can feel no pain because of a mark on her back burned as a child."

"Perhaps she would be of value to me. She has evil coursing through her soul and it will be up to me to unleash it."

"That is all, Slade." With that remark, Slade-P suddenly turned into an electric blue ray and blasted itself into Slade, absorbing all of its knowledge into him.

Slade commented, "Time to get to work on Raven. Wintergreen."

With that, an elderly, sixty-plus year old man came into the room, saying "Yes sir?"

Slade responded, "Get me everything on one Raven. The witch of the newfound superhero team."

Wintergreen then inquired, "What about Robin? The Boy Wonder?"

Slade replied, "He is little more than a pretty penny. Raven is a gold mine. He would be nothing to my plan. My succession."

Wintergreen replied, "On it, sir" before leaving the room, leaving his master to look at the five young superheroes beginning to plan out their team - and their name.

* * *

April 25, 2015. The new team had begun construction of their base, which they decided to build in a way similar to the fallen Gordonian flagship - like a tall T. Robin, Beast Boy, and Raven were removing material from the ship to use in the construction of the tower while Cyborg and Starfire were at work building.

All the while, Slade was watching down below but the new team did not realize. While working on deconstructing the ship, Beast Boy asked Robin, "So what is our team name? We haven't decided one and unnamed team just doesn't have a ring to it. We need people to know who we are."

Robin then added, "And I'm not too fond of naming ourselves Young Justice."

While removing some of the glass on the ship to make the windows on the tower, Raven suggested, "We are living in a really big T. Our name should have something to do with that. Start with a T, I mean."

Beast Boy suggested, "The Terminators?"

Robin replied, "No. Sounds too violent. We don't want the public to think we are going to _'terminate'_ the enemy. We are supposed to be on the side of good."

Raven then remarked, "But we can't sound too good, or otherwise they won't take us seriously. I'm thinking about an old Greek myth that may apply here. The myth of the Titans."

Beast Boy added, "Raven, the name Titans sounds really good. Let's go with the Titans."

Robin then threw in, "But we aren't old enough to be called the Titans, and seeing how all of us are teenagers, we should probably go with the Teen Titans."

Raven remarked, "Works for me."

Robin then replied, "Okay so let's go with the name Teen Titans. I'll just ask Cyborg and Starfire if they approve of the name."

Robin picked up some of the metal from the ship and brought it over to the platform where Cyborg was storing the materials that would be used to built the Tower.

Cyborg came down, upside down, looking at Robin and said, "Thanks for the material, Robin. According to Starfire, this metal has a regenerative quality to it. If we get this right, the base would be able to survive a whole lot of stuff."

Robin then added, "I was talking with Beast Boy and Raven about a team name. How does Teen Titans sound?"

Cyborg thought about that for a moment, thinking about the name. It may not have been the first one he was expecting, but at least it could have been worse in his opinion.

Cyborg replied, "Teen Titans sounds good. I'll just ask Star..."

Before Cyborg could complete the sentence, Starfire flew down and told Robin, "That name sounds excellent."

Robin then claimed, "So now we are the Teen Titans. We'll just put a T on the communicator and that would represent us."

Back at his base, Slade was watching the events unfold. He said, "Teen Titans. Now I know what to call you. Let's see how well you do when my threat presents itself."

He continued watching as the Titans took a lunch break. He noted that Cyborg was eating a triple-decker cheeseburger, Robin was eating a hot dog, Beast Boy was eating a tofu hot dog, Starfire was eating a bologna, tuna fish, and strawberry sandwich, while Raven was calmly sipping some tea away from the others.

Slade noted how Raven was already isolating herself from the team, even before their base had been built. While the others were talking, Raven was just reading a book all by herself, away from the other Titans. Slade already knew that Raven was well on her way to becoming his apprentice, but she did not even realize it, which will make it all the more sweeter for him when he triumphs.


	2. Divide & Conquer

**Author's Notes**

To Kaarlinaa, thanks for your first review to the story. I can try to update this story every few days, but keep in mind I am posting this story plus "The Dark Army" plus I have college and the workload has just increased, decreasing my potential writing time.

This story will contain several episodes from season one that I am rewriting to fit the purposes of this story. I will be skipping over a couple of episodes that wouldn't be able to be revised. You'll know which ones they are.

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

April 27, 2015. The Teen Titans had finished building their tower out of the fallen Gordonian ship. It stood roughly eight stories tall and featured a top floor that was sixty feet long by twenty feet wide.

With that, they began to move into their new living quarters. In Robin's room, he quickly made his room of utmost simplicity, with just a bed, dresser, and closet. He didn't need anything else in his room - just the bare essentials.

Starfire, having nothing for herself, had to go shopping to get things. She used the credit card Bruce Wayne gave Robin (but the identity of the card's owner would remain a mystery unsolved) and bought a bed, sets of clothing, a mirror, a dresser, and some other accessories necessary for female care.

Cyborg brought in his computer equipment to his quarters, which included his computers, his bed, his charging table, his systems charger, spare batteries and cores, and repair tools to fix himself up.

Beast Boy brought into his room his bunk bed, his clothing, his dresser, and his GameStation 2.0. It was very courteous for Mento and the Doom Patrol to quickly be able to ship his things over to Titans Tower. He may have been raised by the Patrol but Beast Boy needed some time off from them, especially to live a bit like a kid, have a childhood he never had.

Raven brought everything in her room from a backpack she kept on her, which she had previously stored in an abandoned warehouse on the other side of town. She needed a place to stay, and after wandering the Earth for several weeks, she finally had a permanent home. One unlike the monastery Raven was confined to with an abusive populace outside. She had her bed, some personal sculptures, her books, her tea-maker, and her clothing - a lot of cloaks and leotards. Raven didn't really care for much different clothing as that was all that felt comfortable to her.

During the construction of the tower, Slade had managed to hack into the Tower's security systems and plant several cameras throughout the place enabling him to spy on the Titans and monitor their computer activity. It couldn't enable him to disable the Tower's security, but at the moment, he didn't need to. He just needed an eye into his new opponents, to see how he could split off their violet-haired bird from the others.

Now, since the Titans had established themselves, the Jump City Police had agreed to call them if they had any crises. But crime had been laying low for the past few days, especially after the crash landing of Starfire onto Earth.

However, that temporary peace would soon come to an end as a large stone creature came in a cage into Slade's lair, ready for tasking.

Slade walked up to the creature and spoke into its ear, saying "Go to the Jump City Penitentary and bring me Plasmus. Engage anybody in your way but do not kill. I need them alive."

Cinderblock's eyes opened up as he began to smile, ready for a lot of destruction at the prison. He knew his task but he did not know who he was going to be fighting.

* * *

Suddenly, an alarm began to ring inside of Titans Tower. They all knew what it meant - trouble. There was a crime going on in Jump City and they had to go stop it.

After all five Titans went into the common room, aka the living room, aka the main ops room, which had been furnished with a couch, table, and chairs, Robin went to the computer near the windows in the room to see what the crime was.

Robin said to his team, "We've got a break-in at the Jump City Penitentary. Apparently it is a very big rock, a sentinent rock that is going on the attack."

Starfire asked, "What does sentinent mean, Robin?"

Cyborg responded, "It means it's alive, and in this case, that makes him a lot more dangerous. We better tread carefully, for we don't know what he can do."

Robin then shouted for the first time ever, "Titans, go" and the Titans headed off to stop the break-in. Starfire carried Robin in her arms while Beast Boy turned into a pterodactyl that supported Cyborg while Raven merely levitated her way to the prison.

* * *

Jump City Penitentary. It was night time, say 9 PM and it was dark out. Most of the prisoners were in their cells asleep as the guards took watch outside, making sure nobody got in or out of the prison.

The guards held their Heckler & Koch G36K rifles as they patrolled the gates. It was a normal night as usual, but there just this odd tingling feeling that tonight was far from normal.

Soon, what sounded like sonic vibrations began to storm around the prison. Something was definitely off as the vibrations began to get more powerful. The vibrations were being caused by footsteps, really big footsteps, that were rapidly approaching the prison.

As a result, the guards aimed their assault rifles out, ready to fire upon what was coming towards them. The footsteps continued to draw closer and they became louder and began to shake the position of the guards, getting uneasy as the minutes ticked by.

At last, they saw what was their threat - the huge hulking stone monster known as Cinderblock. The first guard cried out, "Cinderblock! Incoming!"

Another guard soon yelled out, "Open fire!"

As a result, the guards opened fire on Cinderblock as he charged right into the walls, and despite emptying hundreds of bullets into him, he was far from down for the count and seconds later, he breached the walls and sent several guards falling to the ground. Their armor prevented certain death but they were going to be stuck in the hospital for quite some time.

Soon, Cinderblock smashed right into the prison itself, specifically Cell Block Nine, where the most dangerous of criminals happened to reside, including Cinderblock's target.

Immediately after Cinderblock breached the prison, tons of alarms quickly went off as guards rushed to support those that were engaging Cinderblock on the ground.

A guard yelled out, "Code red! We have a code red! All available units report to Cell Block Nine. We have a break-in. Cinderblock!"

Several guards soon follow behind the yelling guard, aiming their weapons around the surrounding area to make sure there is nobody else.

Another guard stated, "Main yard secure. It's just Cinderblock here."

Suddenly they are quickly faced with a large block of stone that is thrown right at them. It would have hit them had they not moved away as it impacted, noting that the hole Cinderblock has made in the prison has just gotten bigger.

Another guard cried out, "He's going to free the criminals."

The first guard ordered, "Open fire! Take him down."

The guards opened fire on Cinderblock but they were unamazed to see that their bullets did no damage on the monster. As their bullets ran out, Cinderblock stomped on the ground repeatedly, which created vibrations that forced the guards off of their feet and crashing onto their bottoms.

With the guards dealt with, Cinderblock continued to move in the prison, looking for where they keep Plasmus to fulfill his boss's requests.

Before he could get too far, he was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice which said, "You know, normally the bad guys try to break out of jail."

Cinderblock looked to see an empty hallway but soon Robin jumped down and was standing in his way. Robin then said, "And I can think of five good reasons you don't want to break in."

Robin points at himself as he says, "One."

Beast Boy jumped down and landed on his feet, saying "Two."

Starfire then flew down with her hands glowing green before she said, "Three."

A black raven floated from the ground before materializing into Raven, who said, "Four."

And lastly, Cyborg came out from the dark and walked forwards to meet up with the other Titans, saying "Five."

Robin then said, "No matter how you do the math, it all adds up to you going down. So, are you going to go quietly..."

Cyborg continued, "Or is this gonna get loud?" as he charged up his sonic cannon to aim at Cinderblock.

Robin shouted, "Titans go" as the battle soon began between the Titans and Cinderblock.

Cinderblock first started by kicking down a lot of the stone walls in the prison, which quickly created huge walls in the cells of most of the prisoners.

One of the prisoners shouted, "Come on guys, freedom!"

With that, a lot of prisoners quickly ran out of the prison, rushing towards freedom. Before the Titans could continue their battle with Cinderblock, Robin said, "Raven. Handle the prisoners. We don't want anyone escaping the prison."

Immediately afterwards, Raven grumbled "Fine" before flying out to handle the prisoner breakout, knowing that the Titans would be better served if she was in the battle against Cinderblock.

Robin quickly landed a tough kick against Cinderblock's head as Starfire and Cyborg barraged him with starbolts and sonic cannon fire. Beast Boy turned himself into a hawk and tried to scratch Cinderblock with his talons. Cinderblock was forced to back away as the Titans began their barrage on him. However, as the four began another charge, Cinderblock swatted them with his hand, leaving only Starfire able to continue the fight.

Starfire fired some starbolts at Cinderblock but he was able to quickly grab her, bunching her so that she could not raise her arms at him and was unable to move. Cinderblock began to chuckle slightly, before Starfire said, "I am sorry to disappoint you, but I am stronger than I look."

With that, Starfire flipped Cinderblock onto his back as he was forced to let go of her. Cinderblock, however, got back up quickly. He was soon faced by Beast Boy who had turned himself into a T-Rex, whacking him with his tail and forcing him into a wall.

Cinderblock grabbed Beast Boy by the neck and threw him at Robin and Cyborg. Before they could realize it, Beast Boy was about to crash on them when he turned back into a human and landed.

Beast Boy sheepishly joked, "Watch out for falling dinosaurs." After seeing Cyborg and Robin's less than pleased reaction, he continued, "I'll leave you guys alone now."

Meanwhile, outside of the prison, the prisoners were trying to escape from the fallen wall. However, a bunch of large rocks, surrounded by a black glow quickly filled in the gap of wall, making it impossible for the prisoners to get through. They would have to climb.

Soon after, Raven phased in through the ground and angrily said, "Think again."

The lead prisoner said, "Ooh, we got a feisty little bitch here. Say, let us go and we won't hurt you too much."

Raven slightly smirked and replied, "I have a better idea. Return to your cells and you won't get hurt."

With that, the lead prisoner charged right at Raven but he was quickly flicked back by a black shield that impacted him in the face. After that, Raven raised her hands and gave the universal "come at me" signal.

A couple more prisoners raced towards Raven, hoping to successfully break through her. However, they were quickly hit with black energy and sent backwards into the crowd of prisoners.

However, the rest of the prisoners soon got an idea - _Maybe if we gang up on her, she'll fall._ With that, all of the prisoners charged at Raven with the intention of taking her down.

Raven quickly sent waves of black energy at them, hoping to take them down. While she took out a bunch of them, there were still a lot more prisoners and they soon managed to reach her despite the shields she put up to protect herself.

One prisoner quickly punched Raven in the head and soon the other prisoners ganged up on her, providing a flurry of blows upon Raven. She tried summoning her powers, but they broke her concentration by squeezing down on her arms.

The first prisoner Raven took down quickly came up to Raven, much more vicious and aggravated than before. Raven could tell by the look on his face that he was planning on raping her - a look she had seen seven times before.

Before he could prepare to do the nasty deed, guards swarmed in and opened fire on the prisoners, which quickly forced them to fall back. The few prisoners that stayed, trying to beat up Raven were met with gunshots that dropped them dead.

One of the guards picked up the battered Raven and asked her, "Are you alright?"

Raven replied, "I'm fine. I've been better though."

Back to the battle with Cinderblock, Cyborg was now engaged in a battle of girders with the stone monster, having realized that they may wind up being the only thing that can hurt him. Cyborg landed a couple of hits on him but he was quickly outmatched as Cinderblock smashed him back and he landed next to Robin.

After dusting himself off and getting back up, Robin asked, "You want to give him the sonic boom?"

Cyborg turned his hand into his sonic cannon and said, "I got the sonic if you've got the boom."

Robin pulled out an exploding disc and the two began their group move. Robin ran along one wall while Cyborg ran on another. The two met each other in the middle and Cyborg fired a sonic cannon blast as Robin threw the exploding disc that was enhanced by the sonic blast.

The two both impacted Cinderblock and they blasted him down onto the ground leaving a burn mark on his "chest". Before Beast Boy and Starfire could ensure that Cinderblock stayed down, he got back up and swatted the two of them away, causing them to crash behind Robin and Cyborg.

Robin shrieked, "Shit. How come he's not down?"

Cinderblock cried out, "Fools cannot take down Cinderblock" before ramming right into them and pushing them away as he headed to retrieve his target. He smashes through another wall as he finally sees a metal cell door that reads, _Prisoner 385901 - Absolute silence!_

Cinderblock rips the door off its hinges before kicking away the two guards that are in the room and proceeds to take the tank right out of the cell. He then runs right out of the prison, smashing more walls as he makes his escape.

And though that does free a lot of the prisoners, they are quickly forced back in their cells by Raven, who uses her black energy to blast the runners back. Probably hearing what happened to the first group of prisoners discourages them from trying to attack her.

The prisoners were herded back to their cells as the Titans try to figure out how Cinderblock could have succeeded. Raven soon comes up and Robin begins to yell at her.

Robin yells, "There you are. Where were you?"

Raven yells out (her head getting bigger as she yells at Robin), "I was handling the prisoners as you told me to! And they are a lot tougher than you think!"

Robin yells back at her (with his head changing in size like Raven's), "I had you do that because you couldn't handle Cinderblock. Look at yourself, you're the weakest."

Raven's eyes begin to glow a slight shade of red as the other Titans quake in fear away from the fight, now looking a lot smaller compared to the bickering birds.

Raven yelled back, "You don't talk to me like that. You needed me on the fight against Cinderblock! Trust me!"

"How can I trust you when you won't even tell us about yourself?"

"I told you that I couldn't tell you what I am. And you didn't care to inquire further. Are you saying this is my fault?"

"Want me to say it again?"

Starfire came in between Robin and Raven and said, "Stop! No more mean talking!"

In the background as Robin and Raven continued bickering, Beast Boy said, "If those two are going to fight, we ought to sell tickets."

Cyborg interrupted the fight and said, "Cinderblock escaped. No amount of yelling will change that."

Robin yelled, "Do you have a problem, Shorty?"

Raven cried out, "Yeah. It's four feet tall and reeks of inexpensive hair gel."

"I don't know why you're even on this team!"

"Me neither! I QUIT!"

With that, Raven flew away from the Titans, letting her soul-self engulf her.

* * *

Cinderblock brought his target back to Slade's base, setting down the container labeled 385901 in front of Slade's throne-like chair.

Slade said, "Cinderblock. I see your mission was a success. Good, now we proceed to phase two. Wake him."

With that, Cinderblock lightly knocked onto the container, which awoke the half-naked man inside. He shrieked, "I'm awake. I should never be awake. I'm human only when I'm asleep."

Slade then demanded, "Your human form is useless for what I have in mind. I need Plasmus."

With that, the man was quickly engulfed by a protoplasmic goo that quickly became him, shattering the container and quickly revealing a large brown-purple blob known as Plasmus, delivering a screeching roar.

Plasmus and Cinderblock then depart from Slade's presence as Wintergreen soon comes in.

Wintergreen says, "I have the feed from the prison. It appears the fight triggered disagreements between Robin and Raven. She quit."

Slade replied, "Good. Have Overload prepared. Tomorrow night, the Titans will fall."

* * *

Back at Titans Tower, the team was dealing with Raven's departure from the Teen Titans and they noticed that when they came back, Raven had taken all of her things from her room, which was now vacant and her T-Communicator was gone as well.

Cyborg tried to track it down but he discovered Raven turned off the locator and cell, rendering it impossible for him to find her. Raven did not want to be found. She needed to be away from Robin, but for how long? Would they ever get Raven back?

Raven, meanwhile, returned to the abandoned warehouse that she had been staying at over the past few days, where nobody could find her and she would stay away from civilization. Raven was beginning to think that she was never going to have a good experience with people.

And all the while, Slade continued to watch over all five of them - looking how isolated Raven was gave Slade the idea of just how to divide his three creatures to fight the Titans.

* * *

April 28, 2015. The Titans were dealing with Raven's departure in their own ways. Starfire was at the kitchen making some dish, Beast Boy was frantically trying to contact Raven (who was refusing to answer), Cyborg was programming the computers, while Robin was just staring at the windows.

As Beast Boy walked into the main ops room, Starfire quickly shoved a large spoonful of her dish down Beast Boy's throat. He asked, "Dude, what is that? Cream of toenails?"

Starfire replied (slightly glum), "Pudding of Sadness. It is what the people of my planet eat when bad things happen."

After that, she then ate an equally large spoonful of her Pudding of Sadness, which didn't go down with pleasure, but at least it wasn't as bad as Beast Boy - he was on all fours trying to expel it from his system.

She then went up to Cyborg to try to get him to try the pudding. She said to him, "Try. The displeasing taste will ease your troubled mind."

Cyborg turned to face Starfire and said, "My mind is never troubled. People come, people go. It's pointless to be upset about Raven."

Suddenly, all the monitors begin to go fuzzy as they all begin to flash, _SYSTEM ERROR_.

Cyborg simply asks, "What?", not noticing the damage, as Starfire continues on to Robin.

While Robin is looking at the windows, Starfire holds the bowl out towards him. She says, "Here, Robin. You need this most of all since, well..."

Robin cut her off with, "I'm fine. Maybe we'll be better off without her."

* * *

A few hours later, the Titans are continuing to deal with Raven's absence when they get the trouble alarm. Rushing to the main ops room, the Titans looked to see the threat.

Robin asked, "Cinderblock strikes again?"

Beast Boy replied, "You wish."

The Titans quickly rushed over to a chemical factory where the disturbance was reported. Looking inside, they see a large brown-purple blob going through the massive quantities of chemical waste, grabbing the barrels and guzzling them down.

After watching him eat some barrels, Starfire blasts another one away before he could chug it down.

The four Titans assembled as Robin said, "That stuff can't be good for you."

Plasmus soon began dispensing sludge right at the Titans and they are barely able to avoid it as it comes for them. Robin orders, "Star! Let him have it!"

Starfire then fires a couple of starbolts into Plasmus's chest, creating a fairly big hole in it. Upon seeing the results of her work, she said, "Did I let him have too much?"

However, Plasmus quickly fills in the hole in his body. Beast Boy gasps out, "I'm thinking not enough" as Plasmus restarts his barrage on the four Titans. He sends an arm towards Starfire but Cyborg is able to move her out of the way as it hits a wall.

Robin pulled out a cryo-disc and said, "Maybe he just needs to chill" as he threw the disc at Plasmus's arm, freezing it. However, that didn't do too much as Plasmus shattered the arm before regrowing it and a bunch of tentacles along with it.

Beast Boy turns into a rhino and tries to ram Plasmus, but it merely sends out a bunch of goo that washes Beast Boy backwards towards his teammates. Afterwards, he says while he spits out the goo, "And I thought Star's pudding tasted bad."

Back at his base, Slade was watching the fight between the Titans and Plasmus, with Wintergreen by his side. Slade remarked, "Disappointing. With one Titan missing, this is almost too easy."

Slade turns to Cinderblock and continues, "I was expecting more of a challenge. Cinderblock, begin phase three."

Cinderblock nods and grabs a large piece of equipment, intent on fulfilling his master's request as Slade turned his eye back to the fight.

Wintergreen then said, "Overload has been deployed at the girl."

Slade then remarks, "Let's watch."

* * *

Back at the warehouse where Raven was staying, she was sensing something was coming. Her hearing detected a lot of electricity heading her way. Putting on her backpack, Raven began to leave the warehouse when Overload, a malevolent computer chip surrounded by electricity, crashed in.

Raven asked, "What the hell are you?"

Overload replied, "Overload. Foolish biological. Overload shall destroy!"

With that, he sent a large shock of electricity towards Raven, who barely dodged it as it impacted the wall. Raven summoned her black energy and began blocking his blasts as she sent some of her own his way.

Unfortunately, they failed to do a thing to Overload, who continued heading towards Raven. So, she used her powers to lift several abandoned desks at him and threw them right at him, and predictably, they did nothing to slow down the electric beast.

Raven then noticed the sprinklers on the ceiling of the warehouse. She shouted out, "Bet you aren't waterproof" as her powers proceeded to rip the sprinklers right out of place and sending a downpour of water right onto Overload.

Immediately, Overload was zapped with the water and began to shrink until he was nothing more than his chip. Raven walked up to Overload's chip before stepping on it repeatedly, destroying it and the malevolent intelligence along with it.

Suddenly, Raven's communicator got an alert that there was another attack. She checked to see that in addition to the Plasmus attack being covered by her former teammates, Cinderblock was attacking downtown.

She immediately let her soul-self swallow her up as she headed off to confront Cinderblock downtown.

And she got there not a moment too soon as Cinderblock was using the piece of equipment from Slade's lair to cause more havoc downtown when he spotted Raven. Cinderblock chuckled slightly, preparing for what he thought would be an easy fight.

Raven used her black energy to surround Cinderblock with the equipment he brought from the lair, crushing him beneath its strength before he fell down onto the ground. Cinderblock struggled in vain to get up, but the equipment was much stronger than he expected, making it impossible to break out.

With Cinderblock down for the count, Raven then proceeded to head over to the chemical factory to help the Titans deal with Plasmus.

* * *

And the Titans were getting their collective asses kicked by Plasmus, who managed to worm his way out of any trap the Titans tried to set him in. By now, the Titans had been separated - Robin and Cyborg now trapped on a conveyor belt slowly headed towards a vat of sulfuric acid while Beast Boy and Starfire were slowly being consumed by the goo.

It was looking like the end for the Titans, with Beast Boy and Starfire almost completely drowned into it, about to die and the conveyor belt getting closer to the end where the Robin and Cyborg would meet their end.

Before the changeling and the alien could be drowned, the goo was suddenly pushed off of them and far away from them. When looking to see what had caused it, they saw that it was being done by familiar black energy. Raven came and proceeded to blast Plasmus with a burst of black energy, which turned that part of him into nothing more than scattered goo. Raven thought, _Now where are Robin and Cyborg?_

She got her answer when she sensed them down below, trapped by Plasmus and their time ticking away. Before Robin and Cyborg could fall to their demises, they found themselves on a platform of black energy that calmly coasted them over to a platform to the side of the conveyor belt, keeping them away from being dissolved by acid.

Plasmus turned around to see them, ready to blast them away. However, Raven came along and used one blast of black energy to send Plasmus flying away and smashing him into a wall.

The goo abated from Plasmus, revealing the bald, half-naked man formerly in the holding container.

* * *

The Titans were outside now, with four of them cleaning up the goo that got on them, whilst Raven was completely clean. The police grabbed the human Plasmus and put him back in his stasis container after applying a sedative to keep him asleep.

While brushing the goo that got on him, Robin said Raven, "Look, uh...sorry...about..."

Raven quickly said, "Yeah."

Robin asked, "Are we cool?"

Raven replied deadpan, "Frigid."

Starfire then cried out, "You made up! Glorious! I wish to initiate the group hug."

Beast Boy and Cyborg simultaneously said, "Pass."

Robin then said, "We still have two more crises to handle. Cinderblock and that electric monster."

Raven replied, "No you don't. Cinderblock's already in custody and this is what remains of the electric monster named Overload."

Raven pulled out her backpack and revealed the crushed remains of Overload's chip.

Raven added, "He did try to attack me."

Robin replied, "That's fine. But there's one thing still bugging me. Breaking into jail? Using Plasmus and Overload to distract us? That seems way too smart for Cinderblock."

Raven then commented, "I'm thinking the exact same thing. There's someone in Jump pulling the strings."

Robin confidently replied, "No matter who they are, they're no match for the Titans."

Back at his base, Slade furiously watched as the Titans had beaten Plasmus, or rather Raven had - along with Cinderblock and Overload (whom she had permanently put out of commission). Slade said to himself, "I guess he was right. You truly are a gem, Raven. The Titans will pay for what they have done and when the time comes, Raven will be in my grasp."


	3. Final Exam

**Author's Notes**

I have been getting mixed feedback to my interpretation of _Divide and Conquer_, especially to the dialogue shifting - I am trying to make it work but it can't always be as smooth as you may hope.

To Kaarlinaa, there may be some romance but I doubt it will be the focus - it is more on how Raven is dealing with Slade. There will be my interpretation of X in the _Masks _chapter (which will be in a few chapters). This story will only cover the first season of the show, so Terra won't be in this story.

To Velgamidragon, I know what you mean - Slade's speech in _Birthmark_ personally one of my favorites in the series. I am trying to keep some similarity in the dialogue while making it fit the other characters (as I said above). I know it won't be smooth, but I can try to make it less awkward.

To jovanchin2013, hopefully last chapter will help lead up to my interpretation of season one - the next chapter will bring us forward in the overall story.

To everlostneverfound, Slade sent Overload against Raven to test her strength - and he was not disappointed. Now that he knows about Raven's true power, it is more likely Raven will be more dangerous. I am sticking with the canon storyline (well my version at least) for the story, until I reach the _Apprentice_ episodes.

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

May 14, 2015. Slade had received an offer for potential recruits from the HIVE Headmistress. Now, he was watching the video of the top team from the HIVE Academy.

On the monitor, the video began to play and the HIVE logo came up onto the screen as the Headmistress narrated the video.

"The HIVE Academy for Extraordinary Young People is proud to introduce the year's top graduates."

The HIVE logo disappeared from the screen as a platform then appeared on the screen with three young people on it - a bald midget in a green jumpsuit with a backpack, a hulking tanned brute with long brown hair, a goatee, and a sleeveless black shirt and pants, and a pale-skinned pinkette with cat eyes and a black and blue dress.

Then, appearing in front of the three students is a massive obstacle course of turrets and obstacles. It soon began the course as the small one leaped off of the platform and deployed a jetpack.

The image froze on Gizmo as the narrator gave a description, "Gizmo, the boy genius whose intellect can conquer any problem with an inventive solution."

Gizmo presses a button on his backpack that proceeds to cause two cannons to come out from the straps of the backpack. He then proceeds to use them to open fire on two double gun turrets that are trying to hit him. Both double gun turrets are easily destroyed and the cannons then retract on Gizmo's suit as he continues flight across the obstacle course.

Then, two robots come out and begin to head for Gizmo from behind. As a result, the pinkette proceeded to jump down from the platform and headed for him.

As the image froze on her, the Headmistress described, "Jinx, the enchanting sorceress whose powerful hexes mean bad luck for the enemy."

Jinx charges up two hexes as she races towards the two robots. As she gets near the robots, she fires both hexes and causes the robots to instantly fall apart.

She then continues her way down the obstacle course as the last of the three in the group jumps down - the brute as he grabs one of the fallen double-guns and wields it as a club.

The image froze on him with the Headmistress describing, "...and Mammoth, the genetically modified giant whose unstoppable strength speaks for itself."

Mammoth uses the double-gun turret to knock two stationary laser guns out of their place before continuing along and seeing another set of laser guns. Mammoth grabs the one on the right and then throws it at the other two laser guns, destroying him.

"Well-organized, highly trained, and combat-equipped..."

Gizmo flies into the air and sees two robots coming at him. Gizmo deploys from his backpack two H discs that impact the robots. After a few seconds, they fall down to Earth with their circuits sizzling and smoke coming out of them.

Mammoth steps onto one of the fallen robots as Jinx runs up to him. Jinx vaults into the air and Mammoth sends her off before he continues on the ground. Gizmo, meanwhile, has landed at the other end of the obstacle course.

A bunch of laser guns soon emerge from the walls, aimed at the three all around. In her mid-air launch, Jinx then sends out a bunch of hexes at the targets, proceeding to take out all of the laser guns.

Mammoth arrives on the ending platform as Jinx soon lands. The video ends with the three HIVE students proudly standing at the end.

"...these new HAEYP agents are the perfect fighting force. And for the right price, this ideal team can be yours."

The video then turns off as Slade slowly claps as the HIVE Headmistress approaches him.

"So Mr. Slade?"

Slade responds, "Impressive. Truly. However, robots and obstacle courses only prove so much."

Slade then gets up from his seat and begins to walk, with the Headmistress quickly following him. Slade continues, "My plans demand operatives who can function in the real world."

At last, the two of them reach the three HIVE students that the Headmistress has shown to Slade - Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth. The mastermind continued as he faced the Headmistress, "If your students are going to serve me, they'll have to pass one final exam."

Slade then turned to the three HIVE students and said, "Destroy the Teen Titans and then we'll talk."

Slade walked away from the three HIVE students. Before the Headmistress followed, she said, "Head out. You have your mission."

Jinx gave a salute to the Headmistress before she, Gizmo, and Mammoth left the base. The Headmistress soon followed Slade back to his seat to watch as the events unfold.

* * *

May 15, 2015. It is early afternoon, say not too far past noon over at Titans Tower in Jump City. While on the outside it looks clean and professional, the inside told a whole different story.

The kitchen sink was filled to the top with dirty dishes while quite a bit of garbage was laying around the floor. For a bunch of teenage superheroes, they weren't exactly the most tidy.

In the main ops room also known as the living room, Cyborg was asking, "Aw, man, come on! It's got to be around here someplace!" He was currently digging through the entire living room looking for something. Beast Boy was a bloodhound looking for the same thing (whatever it was), sniffing through the garbage that populated the floor.

Cyborg added, "I don't believe this!" as he lifted the couch up off the ground to see what could be under it. Unfortunately, he did not find what he was looking for. "How could you lose the remote?"

Beast Boy turned back into a human and after moving his face closer to Cyborg's, snarled "What makes you so sure I lost it?" before continuing to rummage through the living room for the TV remote.

Cyborg responded, "Uh, cause you're you."

Beast Boy yapped, "Hey, just because I lost that video game..."

Then a thought bubble appears above Cyborg's head that shows some of the objects Beast Boy has lost, "and the toothpaste, and my football, and the waffle iron..."

Beast Boy shouted, "Things disappear! How am I supposed to know where they go?"

Cyborg counter-asked, "How am I supposed to watch TV without a remote?"

Raven, who was reading a book away from Cyborg and Beast Boy, loudly shut her book and stood up, saying, "Simple. You get up, and change the channel."

Cyborg yelled, "Don't even joke about it."

Raven icily replied, "I wasn't joking."

Cyborg's response was, "Good, cause it wasn't funny! Now either help us look for the remote or go back to your nasty old book and..." Obvious surges of red were present on Raven as she angrily looked at Cyborg.

Raven walked away, simply saying, "This is a pointless argument over a useless device. You are wasting your energy and disrupting my concentration."

As Raven left the main ops room, Beast Boy and Cyborg continued to argue. Beast Boy said, "I'm telling you! I didn't lose it! You were the one watching TV last!"

While Beast Boy and Cyborg continued to argue, Robin and Starfire walked into the main ops room, with Starfire saying, "And that is the secret to traveling faster than light."

Beast Boy continued his rant at Cyborg saying, "So if you want to blame someone, look in the mirror buddy!"

Robin interrupted Beast Boy and Cyborg before their argument could get much worse, saying "Whoa! Take it easy, Titans! Combat practice isn't until this afternoon."

Starfire then commented, "We must mend your dispute with the sharing of unhealthy junk foods. I shall fetch them now" before heading off into the kitchen to fetch some snacks.

Cyborg yelled out, "I don't need food!"

Starfire went into the kitchen and opened the fridge to see that most of their food had been covered in a fairly thick blue mold. She is most surprised to see a cheese wheel stretching and heading towards her before she blasts it with a starbolt.

As a result, she is covered in the blue mold as it splatters around the fridge.

Robin then suggested, "Maybe we should just get a pizza. But Star, you should clean up and someone needs to get Raven." From his base, Slade continued to note just how isolated Raven was by Robin's statement. The Headmistress, on the other hand, was watching her students ready for their operation against the Titans.

* * *

About an hour later, after the Titans had cleaned up the goo in the kitchen as well as Starfire cleaning up herself after the goo got all over her, plus Beast Boy managing to drag Raven out of her room - the Titans went to Mario's Pizzeria, the city's most notable pizza joint.

After sitting down, the Titans quickly entered one of their most typical disputes - what pizza to order. Regarding the situation, Raven deadpanned, "Can we please just order something?"

Beast Boy insisted, "As long as it's vegetarian."

Cyborg countered, "Come on man. How can you deny me the all-meat experience?"

An infuriated Beast Boy responded to Cyborg, "Dude, I've been most of those animals!"

Hoping to stop the dispute, Starfire interrupted with, "I suggest a large pizza with pickles, bananas, and mint frosting", smiling slightly as she said it.

As the other Titans looked at her strangely (and with a hint of disgust), Robin reminded Starfire, "Uh Starfire? Not everything on the menu is a pizza topping."

An embarrassed Starfire meekly whimpered, "Oh."

An argument soon broke out between Beast Boy and Cyborg, with Cyborg demanding, "Double pepperoni!" Beast Boy yelled back, "I'm not eating meat!" Cyborg countered that with, "There's no meat in pepperoni."

Before they could realize that Cyborg's last statement was terribly inaccurate, Gizmo had gotten into position on a perch, spying on them through his goggle binoculars. Gizmo reported to Jinx, "Gizmo to Jinx. Begin phase one."

Jinx, far away from the Titans next to a parked bus, sent a hex at it which caused it to begin to roll down a very long hill.

While the Titans were continuing their pizza argument, they then noticed the bus rolling down the hill and was about to hit a baby carriage with a very loud crying baby inside.

Robin quickly shouted, "Titans go!" While Cyborg and Raven went to work stopping the bus, Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy went for the carriage.

Cyborg grabbed the back of the bus, holding it long enough for Raven to create a black energy barrier that blocked the bus from moving down the hill. This works long enough for Starfire to grab the carriage and get it out of the way.

With the carriage safe, Cyborg looked into the bus and noted curiously, "Uh, don't buses normally have drivers?"

Meanwhile, the other Titans were looking at the carriage and saw no baby was inside. Starfire noted, "And do baby carriages not normally have babies?", having found a teddy bear with green eyes where the baby should have been.

Speaking through the teddy bear, Gizmo laughed off, "Are you pit-sniffers normally this stupid?" A second later, the teddy bear exploded, sending Starfire, who was far enough away so Robin and Beast Boy wouldn't be caught in the blast, right into the park.

While Cyborg and Raven watched, Mammoth emerged from the bus, having been carefully hidden in the baggage compartment. He then grabbed the bus by the rear bumper and swung it into Cyborg, knocking him away and hitting Raven's barrier as he flew past it which interrupted the barrier.

Raven turned around to see Mammoth with the bus, ready to strike her. He prepared to slam the bus right on her, but her black energy quickly sliced through the bus as if it were sheet metal to a heavy-duty laser beam, cutting it in two.

While Raven was distracted with handling the bus, Gizmo sent flying a rocket right towards Raven. She saw it immediately before it hit her, barely creating a shield, which while preventing it from hitting her, did send her flying backwards towards Cyborg.

Gizmo, on his jetpack, soon came down next to Mammoth and Jinx soon joined the duo, facing the five Titans completely surprised by the sudden attack.

Beast Boy shouted out, "Who are you guys?"

Gizmo replied to the changeling, "We are the HIVE."

Mammoth shouted out, "Your worst nightmare."

Jinx then added, "And this is Attack Pattern Bravo."

With that, Mammoth and Jinx begin to run up towards the Titans as they ready themselves for battle. Jinx jumps onto Mammoth as she uses him for a springboard, launching off and sending two hexes that separate the Titans - Cyborg and Beast Boy on one side, Raven and Robin on the other as Starfire had been removed from the fight with the exploding teddy bear. She was alive but they still had to find her.

Jinx landed on the other side of the separated Titans as Gizmo took off on his jetpack, ready to do combat with Cyborg and Beast Boy. With one swift punch, Mammoth send Beast Boy flying away from Cyborg. Mammoth threw a punch at Cyborg but he easily blocked it and then sacked Mammoth with an uppercut, sending him back. Little did he realize that (no pun intended) Gizmo was right behind him with a mini-rocket.

Mammoth distractingly asked, "What do you call an idiot with a rocket on his back?"

Before Cyborg could think of an answer for that, Gizmo strapped the rocket to his back and cried out, "Duped!"

With that, Cyborg was sent flying into the air, far away from the other Titans. Beast Boy changed into a hawk and quickly went after him, leaving Robin and Raven alone to handle the three HIVE graduates sent to destroy them.

Robin grabbed a bird-a-rang and threw it at Gizmo, trying to take out his jetpack, but Jinx's hex destroyed it before it even got close. Robin pulled out his bo-staff and quickly charged at Gizmo, whose straps quickly revealed cannons that fired away at Robin. Robin dodged the cannon fire and was able to impact Gizmo in the head, causing him to spin a little.

Before he could celebrate that victory too much, Mammoth slammed him in the back. Raven then blasted Mammoth away from Robin before he could finish him off. With that, she then faced off with Jinx who threw countless hexes at Raven, which she blocked with her black energy shields.

Raven sent one of the shields right at Jinx, but she nimbly dodged it. While Raven was engaged in her spell battle with Jinx, Mammoth got back up and quickly grabbed Raven by the arms, disrupting her concentration. Raven shouted, "Get off of me, you bastard!"

Jinx sarcastically said, "She talks like a boy."

Mammoth then added, "And sings like a bird" as he threw Raven into the park, near the woods where Starfire was slowly coming back, having regained consciousness after being impacted by the teddy bear.

Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo soon turned their attention to Robin, the last Titan standing. Robin quickly made the universal "bring it on" sign and the three HIVE students made their move.

Gizmo summoned the two strap cannons and opened fire on Robin. While he managed to dodge some of the blasts, he was quickly blasted backwards away from the three and into the street. Jinx leapfrogs over Mammoth and casts two hexes that causes the street to break apart behind Robin, which causes Robin to hang for dear life in the chasm.

Mammoth then jumps into the air and lands in front of Robin, causing a vibration that soon sends Robin falling into the chasm, whisking him away into the city's pipes, away from sight.

Upon seeing this, Starfire cried out, "Robin!"

The HIVE turned their attention to Raven and Starfire, but before they could attack, Raven grabbed Starfire and engulfed them into her soul-self, flying away from the battle.

* * *

Raven and Starfire arrived back at Titans Tower and Raven quickly sat Starfire down in one of the lobby chairs, as she was still hurting from the burns caused by the teddy bear explosion.

Starfire begged, "That did not just happen. Please Raven, tell me that did not just happen."

Raven cynically replied, "It did happen. We cannot change the truth, no matter how much we dislike it."

Starfire looked at Raven sadly as she began to feel pain from the burns. Raven applied her hand to Starfire's burns and a blue glow surrounded them, causing the burns to disappear from her body.

Starfire said, "I did not know we had a doctor in the house. Thanks."

Raven responded, "No problem."

A moment later, Cyborg and Beast Boy walked in through the front door, with Cyborg said, "Maybe y'all should call me Flyborg. I was halfway to Gotham City before Beast Boy managed to rip the thing from my back. So what'd I miss?"

Raven and Starfire cannot meet Cyborg's eyes and look away.

Cyborg optimistically added, "Tell me how we kicked their butts. Come on, I gotta have a play-by-play."

After noticing the absence of one of the Titans, Beast Boy asked, "Where's Robin?"

Starfire replied, "We are not sure, Beast Boy."

Beast Boy responded, "Not sure? Why are you not..."

Raven cut him off with, "I couldn't sense Robin anywhere. He fell beneath the streets and he hasn't returned yet. God only knows where he could be now."

Cyborg, realizing what had just happened, despondently said, "I shoulda been there. I let that kid sneak up on me and what was I? It was a trap and I shoulda known."

Beast Boy commented, "I don't understand. How could you not find him? People don't just disappear. He has to be somewhere, so go out there and look!"

Starfire interrupted and said, "Please friend Beast Boy. This is Robin we are talking about. I am sure he is fine. He will probably return any second."

Suddenly, someone knocks at the door. Raven deadpans, "Perfect timing" before heading to the door.

Before Raven can answer the door, the door blasts into Raven, but she quickly creates a black energy shield that blocks the brunt of the impact. At the door is not Robin, but the HIVE students that just kicked their butts a little earlier.

Beast Boy shrieked, "Oh no."

Gizmo replied, "Oh yes."

Cyborg challenges as he aims his sonic cannon at Gizmo, "You guys got lucky last time, but you're in our house now."

Gizmo counters with, "Nice place. We'll take it!"

Without warning, Mammoth quickly pounces on Raven, grabbing her by the arms before Mammoth slams her through the floor, causing her to fall into the basement/storage.

The HIVE students quickly charge on the remaining three Titans, who are quickly forced to flee upstairs. The HIVE split up to take down the remaining three Titans - Gizmo pursues Cyborg, Jinx targets Starfire, while Mammoth goes after Beast Boy.

Starfire fires starbolts at Jinx as she approaches her, but Jinx expertly dodges them as she delivers a hex of her own that hits a ceiling panel that soon strikes Starfire in the head. As Starfire rubs her head, Jinx performs a side kick that sends Starfire crashing into a wall.

Starfire however is able to retaliate with a starbolt that sends Jinx flying away from her, enabling her to gain some distance between her and the pinkette. Jinx, however, moves quickly as she heads towards Starfire.

Beast Boy is noticing Mammoth behind him as he moves quickly as a jackrabbit, trying to avoid the brute trying to butcher him. Beast Boy turns around and turns into a large gorilla, grabbing Mammoth's fists as he tries to punch him.

While he managed to prevent Mammoth from punching him, Beast Boy did not see a powerful knee that impacted him in the stomach, causing him to revert back to human form as he kneels down in pain.

Without two hands blocking his punches, Mammoth swings a punch into Beast Boy's head, knocking him unconscious. With the changeling down for the count, Mammoth quickly grabbed Beast Boy's body and then threw it out of the nearest window. Mammoth reported to the other members of the group, "Greenie's down."

Gizmo, pursuing Cyborg, replied "Good." Cyborg was opening fire with his sonic cannon, trying to take out the jetpack-bound Gizmo, but he kept missing him and the most he could hit were the missiles Gizmo sent right for him.

Gizmo then changes from the jetpack to a set of spider legs, now crawling around the walls while pursuing Cyborg. To avoid the tiny genius, Cyborg takes a quick right before ducking into a nearby door before closing it.

Cyborg sighed slightly, feeling that he is now safe as Gizmo seemingly misses him, but behind him a lot of monitors turn on, all of which having Gizmo's face on them. Cyborg turns around to look after sensing the monitors were on.

Gizmo says, "So, Tin Man. You got a heart under all that outdated crud-ware?"

Cyborg looks around and then sees the door falling off its hinges, revealing Gizmo on the other side.

Gizmo added, "Not telling? Guess I'll have to take you apart and find out!"

Gizmo charged at Cyborg but Cyborg was able to duck beneath him and grab Gizmo's backpack, causing him to fall onto the ground. Cyborg nagged, "Gotcha! How you going fight without your tech?"

Gizmo replied, "Like this."

With that, Gizmo fires a small taser into Cyborg's knee, which mildly shocks him but forces him onto one knee. With the distraction, Gizmo got onto Cyborg's back and grabbed the backpack before putting it back on. Now on Cyborg, Gizmo began to hack his systems and soon was going to take the half-robot on a joy ride.

With that, Gizmo commanded Cyborg to run towards a nearby window, and Cyborg, despite every nerve in his body telling him not to, could not oppose the midget's commands.

After reaching the window, Gizmo turned Cyborg around and then put himself on Cyborg's right arm before exclaiming, "Cool. Ejector arm!"

Gizmo pressed some buttons and ejected the arm from Cyborg's body, rendering him unable to use it, and the resulting physics soon caused Cyborg to be blasted right out of the tower and into the ocean that Beast Boy had already been thrown into.

Gizmo then said, "The scrap-heap is down for the count. Just leaves the alien."

Jinx responded on her comms, "And she's about to go." Back with the pinkette and Starfire, Jinx was quickly gaining an edge over her chosen opponent as she delivered a few powerful hits to Starfire while dodging the starbolts thrown at her.

Starfire demanded, "Surrender and you will not be harmed."

Jinx raised her hands in the air, saying, "Actually, Starfire..."

She then fired a hex that hit Starfire and soon sent her flying backwards into another window that sent her flying. Jinx finished, "...you should have surrendered."

Noticing the three Titans floating in the ocean, scrambling to get back to the Tower, Jinx fired a hex at the ocean that created a massive tidal wave that swept them away. Titans Tower was now in HIVE hands.

* * *

The HIVE graduates met up next to Jinx, who was in the gym next to where she sent off Starfire. Gizmo said, "Slade's gonna have kittens when he heard we whipped the Titans and took their stinking Tower!"

Jinx asked, "So now what?"

Gizmo said, "I've got to get the scrunge-ball's arm and mount it on the wall."

Mammoth added, "Figure I raid the fridge. Hopefully they've got something good."

Jinx then added, "I'll see if any of the Titans had any sort of fashion statement."

Down below in the basement, Raven finally regained consciousness - the blow sending her down to the basement knocked her out long enough for the HIVE to take control of the Tower. While they took her down for the fight, they hadn't knocked her out completely. And Raven was getting pretty angry with the defeat, and her empathy quickly sensed the three HIVE graduates - and one of them heading towards _her_ room.

As the three HIVE graduates walked towards the main ops room, passing by the medical bay, they were startled to see Raven there, cloaked and not gone from the Tower.

Raven snarled, "You really think you could win? This ends now with your defeat."

Jinx replied, "Three against one. Not an even fight. You should give up, Rae."

Raven's response was, "Actually, if it were _ten_ to one, it would be an even fight. Surrender and this will be much less painful for you."

Mammoth then charged right at Raven, hoping for a quick knockout like before, but Raven instead surrounded his shirt with her black energy and smashed him into a wall. Mammoth got up, and enraged, charged right back at Raven, but she flew right over him, sending Mammoth heading right towards Gizmo and Jinx.

Jinx and Gizmo barely dodged Mammoth as he impacted another wall, causing him to fall down cold, unconscious. Raven gave the "bring it on" sign Robin gave and Gizmo went at her. Both of his strap cannons were locked on right at her as he flew towards her on his jetpack, but she summoned two black energy razors that cut the straps off his backpack, causing him to fall down onto the ground.

Raven simply pushed Gizmo behind Jinx to where the unconscious Mammoth lay, unable to do anything. Jinx, realizing that Raven had the upper hand, fired off a lot of hexes towards Jinx. As before, Raven blocked each hex with her black energy shields, making it impossible for Jinx to hit her.

Realizing her hexes weren't doing anything, Jinx ran up towards Raven only to find her leg ensnared in black energy that knocks her on her head before throwing her into the pile. The HIVE were defeated in mere seconds - Raven was right that ten to one was an even fight, but Jinx was beginning to think Raven was more like a one-girl army.

While the HIVE students were dazed if not unconscious, Raven grabbed three pairs of handcuffs and two temporary power suppressors from the storage nearby. First handcuffed was Mammoth, who was asleep before a temporary power suppressor was applied to keep him from causing much more destruction. Then came Jinx, who was coming to, but before she could fire, found a temporary power suppressor on her arm and a pair of handcuffs on her wrists.

Last came Gizmo who screamed out, "Crammit! I'm calling Slade!"

Before she handcuffed Gizmo, Raven grabbed Gizmo and with her eyes coldly staring into his, asked, "Who is Slade?"

Gizmo mockingly replied, "Wouldn't you like to know?" A second later, Gizmo found himself handcuffed. Raven pulled out her communicator and called the Titans, hoping they were still alive.

Raven spoke into her communicator, "Raven to Titans, over..."

About a few seconds later, Raven got a response from an unexpected voice, "Raven, where are you?"

Raven replied, "Robin, good to hear you again. I'm the Tower. The HIVE are down for the count, with handcuffs and power suppressors. Now we just have to take them to jail. You can come back now. Wherever you are."

Beast Boy screamed out loud, "Woohoo! Now we won't have to live on a beach head anymore! We got our Tower back!"

Raven rolled her eyes as Beast Boy spoke, apparently from the beach head that the Titans were washed up on.

* * *

Back at Slade's base, Slade and the HIVE Headmistress were watching the battle's conclusion - and saw how Raven had single-handedly bested all three HIVE graduates.

The Headmistress reasoned to Slade, "I assure you. Such failures will not be tolerated within the HIVE. Once the agents have been retrieved from the authorities, they will be disciplined. Strictly disciplined."

Slade got up and walked towards the Headmistress, simply saying, "Actually, your agents served my plan quite well. I never expected them to succeed. The fact they took the Tower did surprise me, though. I was expecting it to be a much quicker fight. They were merely messengers, and the message has been received."

Slade began playing back the video feed with Raven constantly asking, "Who is Slade?" As Slade watched, the HIVE Headmistress left the base, trying to figure out what had happened.

Slade commented to himself, "Now I know, you certainly live up to your reputation. Now I just need to schedule a meeting with you."

* * *

May 16, 2015. The Titans had successfully reclaimed their tower and then cleaned it up, knowing that it desperately needed one. The garbage was thrown away, the dishes were done, and the moldy food in the fridge was disposed of. Titans Tower was looking much more clean on the inside as it did on the outside.

However, in the Tower, Cyborg and Beast Boy were still looking for the remote, which was nowhere in sight. After a few minutes of watching them pointlessly search, Robin pointed out the coffee table - where the remote was this whole time.

Cyborg shouted out, "Booyah!"

Robin then went up to Raven, who was finishing up getting rid of the garbage and said, "I guess I owe you another one."

Raven replied, "We have won the battle, but now we know who is our enemy. Slade. He sent Cinderblock and the HIVE recruits. Now we have to find the leads and clues to take him down. And be ready for the battle when it comes."

Robin said, "We will, but for now, I'm just happy to be a part of this team."

With that, Robin went over to the couch where Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire were watching television, leaving Raven by herself.


	4. Forces of Nature

**Author's Notes**

To Velgamidragon, I felt the dialogue in _Final Exam_ was better arranged than I had done it in _Divide and Conquer_. I am working through this story to show Raven's power and how Slade intends to capitalize on it by making Raven his apprentice.

To Lord-of-Change, thanks for the review and I guess I'm showing you what idea you materialized in that. With your story, _The Mercenary _(of which I am still awaiting an update on), I too felt some of your episodes were in fact superior to the cartoon episodes (such as _Date with Destiny_, _Mad Mod_, and _Apprentice_). While I do agree with you that the power levels on the team fluctuate, I also feel that in the earlier seasons, Raven was hiding her true potential from the others, and the writers were still trying to guide the series (so while I understand your criticism, I also recognize the source of the problem), and now because the show is over, I can adjust the characters to avoid the fluctuation in power. I feel that Raven definitely should not be judged based on her appearance (which is at least two heads smaller than Slade and maybe half as wide) and that may prove major when it comes around for Raven's fight against Slade - and this chapter begins Slade's recruitment attempts.

To Xxsnow dreamxX, I hope this scenario winds up working out as well, hopefully seeing how I could reshape season one.

To Kaarlinaa, I was trying to shape the lines in the story so they'd fit better based on the scenario I entailed. While there won't be actual romance per say, there will be at least a few Raven/BB moments.

To guest, the URB had some effects from _Betrayed, Cast Off, Angry_ - while the story will hue fairly closely with the series, it will have a few differences you'll see.

To LordMesirix, I am trying to figure out which direction the story will go - whether or not Slade will succeed with making Raven his apprentice. I have a few scenarios in mind but ultimately I intend to have a poll to determine which ending becomes the true ending of _Second Chance_.

To HuggableMonsters, I can try to update as fast as I can, but between two stories and college, try not to expect more than two chapters a week for this story.

**Attention readers**: I have mostly decided which episodes I will be adapting - after this, there will be "The Sum of His Parts", "Masks", and "Apprentice Pts 1 & 2". I am not adapting "Sisters" (which was wholly a Starfire episode), "Deep Six" (a Beast Boy episode), "Mad Mod" (an episode I wasn't too fond of), and "Car Trouble" (since I already killed off Overload). I am trying to figure out if I should adapt "Nevermore" and "Switched" - my main concern with those is that I won't be able to make enough changes to the episode to make it worth publishing. Let me know (and soon).

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

June 2, 2015. It's a very dark and stormy night in Jump City, with thunder and lightning striking across the city. What few people realized is that it wasn't just science behind the storms - it was something more...**mystical**. And soon they would find out.

But for now, let's go to Titans Tower, where Beast Boy was pulling back what appeared to be a very large rubber band that had ends in place, as a buffalo, soon hooking it up to a hook he placed nearby. He turned back into a human and mischeviously smiled at his results, soon grabbing a large water balloon and putting it in place for his newest prank (one he was assured would actually work).

Beast Boy commented to himself, "This is gonna be sweet."

He didn't realize Raven coming in behind him, and she was now levitating right behind him before asking, "What are you doing?" Beast Boy turned around to see Raven there.

She continued, "Please tell me this isn't another ridiculous prank."

Beast Boy replied, "Okay. It's not a ridiculous prank. It's a brilliant one", with a smile cracking on the changeling's face as he said that last sentence, which made Raven even more drab than before, rolling her eyes at Beast Boy's comment.

Now, a cloud bubble emerged from Beast Boy's brain as images begin to form alongside what Beast Boy is saying.

Beast Boy continued on, "All right, check it out. Remember how Cyborg put red dye in my soap two days before and I was brown for two days? Well, sister, it's payback time."

During Beast Boy's talking, we see Cyborg switching BB's soap with red dye and then everyone laughing at a brown Beast Boy.

"I give you...the Beast Boy Insta-lube 9000. See, when Chrome-dome steps around the corner, his foot tugs that string, the string trips the lever, the lever releases the mother of all rubber bands, which sends a balloon filled with motor oil flying right at him and BOOM! Pretty clever, huh?"

An unimpressed Raven deadpanned, "You're a genius", knowing that his prank was about as hair-brained as his other ones, and WILL backfire on him as it always does. Beast Boy tried to assuage her doubts with, "It's just a little good clean dirty fun", not noticing the oxymoron in his speech.

Beast Boy's enhanced senses (due to his changeling ability) enable him to hear a door opening - and he knew somebody was coming. After saying, "Here he comes", Beast Boy grabbed Raven and ducked them behind a corner.

Raven, slightly concerned, said, "Whoa, I don't think..." Before she could finish, Beast Boy shushed her. Raven asked, "But what if..." but got shushed again by the changeling.

After a few seconds, an unexpected voice came from behind Beast Boy, asking "Why are we hiding?" Beast Boy shushed him before realizing who the speaker was - it was Cyborg, the target of his prank. If he was with them, then who was heading for the Insta-lube 9000?

Beast Boy, shocked, frantically asked, "Cyborg? You can't be Cyborg!" A perplexed Cyborg replied, "I can't?" Pointing into the hall, Beast Boy asked, "If you're you, then who's..."

Suddenly, he got his answer when a familiar violet boot tripped the string, which quickly sent the oil-filled balloon right at Starfire. Beast Boy tried to stop it but he was too late as it impacted her, getting motor oil all over her face. She shrieked as her sense of direction went completely out of whack.

Cyborg and Raven got out from the corner, with the half-robot asking, "Are you okay?"

Starfire, who had a lot of things about Earth to learn, asked, "Is this punishment? Did I do something wrong?"

Raven deadpanned, "You didn't. He did."

Instantly, Starfire was furious as she looked at Beast Boy, who was nervously laughing. He said, "Star! It was... you weren't supposed to... I didn't... Just remember to change that oil every three thousand miles." As he continued on, Cyborg and Raven became more and more disapproving.

Starfire's head soon began to swell, growing larger and larger as she spoke, "On my planet, we have a name for those who do such horrible things..." while Beast Boy grew smaller and smaller. She finished, "You are a...a...CLORBAG VARBLERNELK", with all of Starfire's rage causing her head to return to normal size as she screamed at the changeling as the motor oil went right off her face and splattered around the place.

Beast Boy, trying to figure out what exactly Starfire called him, asked, "I'm a what bag?"

Cyborg replied, "You heard the lady."

Raven deadpanned, "You are such a clorbag!"

Beast Boy then panicked, saying, "Come on, you guys. Can't anyone take a joke?"

Before they could answer, Robin rushed into the room and urgently said, "Titans trouble."

* * *

Out on the Jump City Highway, two figures were standing right in the middle of it - a skinny yellow one with spiky blond hair and orange orient clothing and a large blue one with short black hair and blue orient clothing. And what would they be doing? Causing the havoc and the storm, if you notice well.

The yellow one sends a spark of lightning that pops off the tires on a nearby SUV, causing it to swerve to avoid a total collision. The driver is barely able to get out of their vehicle before an fuel rig rams right into it, which soon forces the car right off the highway and the rig is unable to stop in time as the blue one sends a burst of thunder that causes one of the suspenders on the highway to fall onto the rig.

The driver gets out just in time and runs away as the rig explodes in the blast brought on by the collapse on the rig. As the fire burned brightly in the storm, the other cars were forced to stop to dodge the calamity - a total traffic jam had consumed the highway on one side.

The blue one asked the yellow one, "May we have fun here, brother?" It's brothers that are causing this? How unexpected, or not.

The yellow one replied, "Of course," as he created a lightning bolt in his hand, adding, "We are Thunder and Lightning. We may do whatever we please," as he sent the lightning bolt right at a car on the other side of the bridge, which caused it to sputter briefly before dying - the bolt having fried the engine.

As sparks emerged from the fried engine, Lightning said, "Look brother! I command the sparks to dance!"

Thunder commented, "Amusing. Now listen as I make music!"

Thunder claps his hands, which creates a very loud shock wave that soon blasts the fried car right into the top of the highway, destroying it. Thank the Lord that the driver was long gone from her vehicle. Jump City Auto is going to make a killing tomorrow selling new cars - if the city isn't somehow destroyed.

Lightning gloated, "Let all who pass this way know that Lightning was here!"

Thunder added, "And Thunder too!"

Thunder bangs his fists together and creates a mini-quake that soon impacts the stuck cars, causing all of the alarms to beep.

Lightning noted, "Most amusing!"

Suddenly, the two brothers heard a different person speak, one they were not prepared for. "Hate to break it to you guys...", the person said. Thunder and Lightning turned around to see the Titans there, ready for battle.

Robin continued, "...but you guys have a lousy sense of humor. This ends now!"

Lightning demanded, "No one gives orders to Thunder and Lightning. Taste my power!"

With that, Lightning sent a lightning bolt at the trailer the Titans were standing on, completely destroying it. The Titans jumped off of the trailer before hand, and soon it was battle time.

Starfire flew towards Lightning, sending endless starbolts towards him but he dodged them before jumping onto the cars on the highway. He sent lightning towards Starfire as she sent starbolts, but in the end, Lightning got off a lucky shot that sparked her onto the ground.

Cyborg was tussling up with Thunder, throwing punches at him as he sent his own back towards him. It was a very even fight between the two of them. Cyborg turned his arm into a sonic cannon while Thunder prepped a thunder bolt. The two blasted each other with a cannon burst and a thunder bolt, respectively. However, Thunder was clearly victorious as he used a cloud to catch himself while Cyborg was skiddering across the ground.

Thunder flew away, heading to deal with Robin. Thunder sent a thunder clap right towards Robin, who dodged it but the clap hit something else - another suspender on the bridge. Seconds later, the other suspenders, having also been dealt some damage in the fight, snapped. Without the support from one side, the suspenders on the other side followed in destruction, causing the bridge to begin to fall apart.

Raven quickly flew to try to fix the bridge as soon the tall tower in the center began to collapse, about to crush several cars in its path. Raven created a dark shield that blocked the tower as she realized she could not hold it up forever. Taking a lot of energy, Raven forcefully pushed the tower back up and made it stay as she yelled out, "Move! Away!"

With that, the cars quickly hit reverse and left the scene, which under most circumstances may have been disastrous, was not as much given that the traffic was almost non-existent now in Jump City.

Lightning took aim at Raven, trying to take her down, but Beast Boy turned into a panda and punched him away. He then ran up to him and gave Lightning an enormous bear hug, only to be met by a very shocking jolt.

Lightning laughed, "Your powers are strong, but mine are stronger" before sending Beast Boy crashing into the divider as a human. As he shook his head in pain, Thunder emerged and picked up Beast Boy. Thunder said, "Your power of the animals is impressive. Rise so we may do battle.

A confused Beast Boy asked, "Why are you doing this?"

Thunder replied, "Because it is not sporting to attack an unready opponent." So the big blue one has some sense of honor in him. Go figure.

Beast Boy added, "No. Why are you wrecking everything?"

Thunder was obviously confused by that last remark and meekly shrugged, "Uh, because it is amusing." Destructive Thunder is, smart he is not.

Beast Boy growled, "Do they look amused", pointing at the motorists driving away from the scene in panic as the bridge Raven is trying to hold up is beginning to come down from their "fun".

Thunder could only stutter, "I -"

"This isn't funny. This is wrong!" Now he just has to connect what they are doing to what he did and things _**should** _be right in the universe.

Thunder, suffering an attack of concience, is unable to attack. However, Lightning provides an attack in the form of a lightning bolt and blasts Beast Boy away (again).

Lightning put his shoulders on Thunder's arms and said, "Ah, the thrill of victory. Come Thunder, we shall seek more amusement." With that, the brothers both went into the air and left.

Back on the street, Beast Boy got up after suffering quite a shock (pun intended) from Lightning. He said, "Well that was a shock" as Starfire, having gotten out of the rubble that she was pushed into walked by. She just shrugged him off, not paying him any attention as he was a clorbag in her eyes.

Beast Boy mildly joked, "So, I'm guessing you're still mad?" It wouldn't take a genius to figure that out.

Robin assembled the Titans near Raven, who is still struggling to hold up the bridge, which is about to come down. Robin said, "Okay team. We have to find those guys before they do any more damage. Cyborg, search the west side. Raven, downtown. I'll take east. Beast Boy and Starfire, take the skies."

Beast Boy, definitely not liking the partner he was assigned at the moment (because she wanted to likely kill him), suggested, "Um, maybe Cyborg should come with me instead."

Robin was quick to point out the fallacy in BB's logic with, "Cyborg can't fly." Beast Boy just responded, "Oh. Yeah."

Cyborg pinched his cheek and mockingly said, "Have a nice flight my little clorbag!"

Robin got onto his R-cycle, which was convinently hidden nearby and drove off heading to the east side. Cyborg quickly kicked it into high gear to make it to the west side. Beast Boy and Starfire flew off of the bridge, with Beast Boy a hawk but Starfire turned away from him. With everybody off of the bridge, Raven let it go, unable to keep it up as it crashed into the sea. The city was going to demand a lot of explanations for why the highway was nothing more than scrap metal.

* * *

**Author's Note**: Since we already know what happens with Beast Boy and Starfire in the episode, we'll instead look at the subject of our story and a chance encounter she has upon her lookout for the troublesome brothers.

Raven was looking downtown for Thunder and Lightning, but she already knew it was a lost cause. Based on the amount of joy and recklesness coming from them, she knew they were on the east side. But she also knew that Robin would demand she be searching downtown as he still didn't believe in her abilities.

Raven screamed out loud to herself, "Robin, you can be such an asshole."

However, a mysterious voice beckoned to her with, "Just because that may be, does not mean you have to suffer for it."

Raven turned around to see an old man in heavy red robes, a white goatee, and an Asian sun hat. Raven asked, "What do you mean?"

He explained, "The two you are looking for. They seek only fun not purposeful vandalism. I take it you have figured it out already but your leader is much more stubborn. He will not absorb it so quickly, especially from you."

Raven was trying to figure out what he was saying and asked, "How do you know about them?"

The man replied, "I seek to find them. Perhaps you would like to join us. The window will not be closed."

Raven shrugged him off with, "No thanks. I'll pass. Who are you, though?"

The man chuckled her off with, "You'll know my name soon enough" and vanished. Who was just talking to Raven and why did she think he was up to no good?

* * *

Now, we skip ahead over to a clearing in the forest, where the old man was having Thunder and Lightning blast targets made out of hay and sticks in a clearing, all with a mysterious symbol on them.

Raven, who had begun following the old man, found them blasting the targets and immediately recognized the symbol - the Mark of Skaath, the symbol of her father, the Archfiend Trigon the Terrible. Her instincts were right - this old man was up to no good at all.

The brothers had finished blasting the targets, now ablaze. Lightning requested, "More targets, old one!" Thunder added, "Yes, please, give us more."

The old man simply said, "That won't be necessary. You've done quite enough" as he pulled out a disc with the Mark of Skaath on it and threw it at the burning targets, which quickly caused them to take form as the light from the disk reached them all. The old one commanded, "Rise" and a giant fire monster emerged in front of the three. Things had gone from terrible to just plain god-awful.

He further commanded, "Burn fire! Burn it all!"

Raven then came out of her place in the woods to confront the old man and the other Titans soon located her and the brothers, plus the old man who almost took out Starfire.

Robin lined, "Didn't anyone ever tell you play with fire and you're going to get burned?"

However, the Titans were soon distracted with trying to put out this fire monster as Thunder asks Lightning, "Brother, what have we done?"

With that, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy went to fight the blaze while Thunder and Lightning stayed with Raven and the old man, who were about to go to battle. The old man dismissed them with, "Go, young masters! Fire is your creation! They have no right to destroy your fun."

The two brothers left to fight the Titans to protect their creation, leaving Raven alone to fight the sorcerer. He greeted her with, "Raven, here to join me are we?"

Raven asked him, "Who are you?"

The man chuckled at her, "I told you that you would find out in due time. You have much to learn, young one." With that, the old man charged at her with his bo-staff.

Raven flipped away to dodge the man's staff attack and sent two attacks of black energy right at him. The old man was very well versed with magic, having been able to summon Trigon's fire spirit and was able to dodge one attack before sending another one to the ground. He was more than a match for Raven.

The old man went back at Raven with his staff, managing to move faster than Raven had expected, sending two blows that knocked her onto the ground. Before he could press his staff into Raven, she grabs the staff and twists it to send the old man aside. She then went back at the old man, sending two punches right at his chest before kicking him into a tree.

The old man proved highly resilient as he got back up before sending a current of air right at Raven. It sent her back a few feet, but she did manage to glimpse the current generator in his wrist. Raven knew that he was not a true sorcerer, but was convincing enough to pose as one.

Raven surrounded the generator with black energy and whisked it away from him before smashing it into a tree. Raven deadpanned, "You have to do better than that you fraud."

The sorcerer quickly became enraged as he charged back at Raven with his staff, swinging right at her, but she dodged the blows yet was soon backed into a tree. Raven summoned some of the branches in dark energy and sent them right at the sorcerer, but his staff knocked them down and split them.

The sorcerer flung his staff again at Raven but she kicked it away, causing it to impact into a nearby tree, which resulted in quite a bit of smoke emerging from the staff.

It didn't stay there for very long as the staff quickly returned to the sorcerer's hands. Raven quickly figured it was some very powerful magnet that attracted the staff and was quickly forced back to blocking the sorcerer's skilled blows.

Soon enough, Raven found herself slammed up against a tree by the sorcerer, who mocked her with, "Raven. Is that the best you can do?"

Before he could finish her off, he was suddenly faced with an incoming lightning bolt that forced him to back away from Raven. She then took the opportunity to deliver a powerful kick to his face that shattered off much of the disguise, revealing a half-black mask as the rest of the disguise falling off to reveal a half-black, half-orange bronze mask.

To cover his escape, the man drops a disc that quickly creates a cloud of smoke, after which he vanishes from sight of Raven. She picked up the disc and saw the large S on the disc. Now she knew who the man was as she uttered a bitter, "Slade."

* * *

June 3, 2015. The Titans, along with Thunder and Lightning had stopped the fire monster and saved Jump City from catching fire. As a result of their work to stopping it, Robin had given Thunder and Lightning their own T-communicators, making them the first Honorary Titans.

Raven soon came by and gave them the disc she found when Slade had dropped it. Cyborg asked, "So Slade wants to destroy the city. Question is why?"

Raven remarked, "I don't know, but we will find out and he won't get away with it."

Beast Boy asked Starfire, "So...am I, still you know, a clorbag?"

After thinking about it for a second, the alien replied, "No. I believe you are more of a milnip wusserloop."

Beast Boy began cheering, "Sweet. Go Beast Boy. I'm a milnip. Who's your wusserloop? Huh?"

With that, Starfire flew away from the scene as did Thunder and Lightning. Robin and Cyborg soon walked away as well, leaving a confused Beast Boy with Raven.

He continued, "That's a good thing, right Star? Star?"

With that, Beast Boy turned to an eagle and flew away, trying to chase down the alien. Before joining the other Titans, Raven turned around and looked at the forest damaged by the fight with Slade. She asked herself, "What are you up to Slade?" before flying off.

Back at his lair, Slade was watching the results of the fight with Raven and said, "She now knows who I am. Now, let the games begin."


	5. The Sum of Herself

**Author's Notes**

To Lord-of-Change, the earlier interaction in the previous chapter was designed to introduce doubt into Raven, begin to make her question if the Titans are right for her, and Slade has very well begun his plan to make Raven his apprentice. I will take your advice on _Nevermore_ into consideration, but while I like your story idea, there are elements of it I would likely change - some elements from the series just work better.

To Angel of Azarath, your advice on _Nevermore_ is duly noted - you'll see soon what comes next, and what happens.

To Velmamidragon, I will take your advice under consideration regarding _Switched_. I know what you mean with Raven - it seems like the show under-utilized Raven - there were a lot of things about her the show didn't bring from the comics - her empathy was one of the most basic things, something that was barely mentioned (perhaps in season 5), and would have been VERY useful in finding them - this perhaps will be part of Raven's own doubts about staying with the Titans.

To guest, Raven will take over a lot of Robin's parts and lines in the story, but a lot of her own (say in this chapter), will stay the same. The other characters will accomodate and their dialogues will shift as well to adjust. If you want to know what a milnip wusserloop is, ask Starfire (if you do, also ask her what a clorbag varblernerk is).

To LordMesirix, Raven will be the one obsessed with Slade in this story, not Robin. We will get to _Apprentice_, I guarantee it, but I don't know how it will end yet - I have several different endings in thought, but once I get to _Apprentice_, I will poll the readers for the ending. Terra may come up in one of the endings, but I'm guaranteeing Terra will appear - this meant to only be season 1 of the show.

To everlostneverfound, thanks for the review and I hope this story works out as well.

To Kaarlinaa, things are coming soon that fulfill the story. As for romance, I don't feel there could really be a romance given the focus - look at season one in the show, there barely was any between Robin and Starfire, and I'd say something similar will happen with Raven. But with who?

Okay, I have decided about the next few chapters - I will adapt _Nevermore_ to this story (thanks to Lord-of-Change for the idea on how to change it), but I won't adapt _Switched_ (since I won't be able to convert that episode well enough to fit the plotline and I want to get to the apprentice part sooner).

This chapter won't be exactly _The Sum of his Parts_ - the first part will be pretty much the same, but this will also have a number of elements from _Bunny Raven_. Your skepticism (which I know you have even though I can't see you), will be answered. The purpose of this chapter is more to demonstrate Raven's power and make the Titans begin to question what Raven is truly capable of.

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

June 14, 2015. It's a sunny day at the Jump City Park, good enough to have a picnic, especially if you're a Teen Titan. Cyborg was working the grill, grilling up baby back ribs, burgers, and tofu hot dogs (for the ever-vegetarian Beast Boy). Robin and Starfire were sitting at the table while Beast Boy was laying in a tree that Raven was laying under.

Cyborg, being an expert chef, found that his ribs were done and opened the grill to take out the massive saucy pork ribs. Cyborg exclaimed, "Four and a half pounds of baby back ribs! Boy, I love picnic food!" It sure looks like Cy's got a huge appetite - four and a half pounds is more than most people can eat.

Robin was eating a burger while watching Starfire drink something. She commented on her drink, "Agreed, Cyborg. This tangy yellow beverage is truly delightful."

However, what Starfire was not referring to was lemonade - a traditional picnic drink. What she was referring to was strange to humans but relatively understandable given Starfire was fairly clueless about Earth.

Cyborg started, "Um...Starfire?"

Robin finished, "That's mustard!" Mustard, who drinks a condiment? Starfire, apparently.

Starfire rubbed her cheek on the bottle of mustard as a cascade of hearts came down behind her and asked, "Is there more?" It looks like whatever mustard they brought to the picnic was going to Starfire.

Meanwhile, Beast Boy was checking the grill to see if his lunch was ready - and he saw that his tofu dogs were done. He grabbed the two franks and held them in his hands, saying to Raven, "Yo, Raven! Try one! They're loaded with soybeany goodness."

Raven deadpanned back at him, "I respect that you don't eat meat. Please respect that I don't eat fake meat."

After finishing up their lunch, Cyborg pulled out a soccer ball and asked, "Anyone wanna play soccer?"

Starfire said, "I would love to partake in the sock her game." Sock her? Strange way of calling soccer, but let's give her a pass.

Robin and Beast Boy both agreed, leaving Raven in the center of attention. She remarked, "I'll referee." She always hated playing sports and her body wasn't exactly made for it, seeing how she was raised in a monastery.

Raven reluctantly got up from her tree and went to referee the Titans' soccer game - with Robin and Starfire (who was still learning the game from Robin) against Beast Boy and Cyborg.

Robin and Beast Boy went to vie for the ball with Starfire and Cyborg ready to support their respective partner. Raven said, in the most boring tone, "Play."

With that, the Titans began their mini-soccer game. Beast Boy got the ball first and kicked it back to Cyborg, who then began to charge forward with the ball towards the other end of the field. Robin shouted, "Star, get the ball."

Starfire flew over towards the ball, which was rapidly approaching a goal for the robot-changeling duo, but she got there first and kicked it towards Robin, who got it and began to press forward towards the end of the field that would mark a goal for the interspecies couple (not officially yet but signs are favoring it).

Before Robin could score a goal, Beast Boy turned into a large lizard and used his tail to send the ball right towards Cyborg. After changing back to human form, Beast Boy yelled out, "Heads up, Cy."

Unfortunately, before Cyborg could intercept the ball, his normally blue armor colorings turned a dull gray as his red eye shut down, causing him to collapse onto the ground. The Titans quickly paused their soccer game and rushed over to the half-robot, trying to get him to wake up.

Beast Boy cried out, "Come on Cyborg, wake up already! Cy! Are you okay?"

Starfire suggested, "Maybe he needs some sleep."

Raven replied, "No, he isn't sleeping. It's more like his battery died."

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Or in this case, point out the problem and then Cyborg wakes up. He checked his battery stats on his arm and saw the timer counting down rapidly from 30:00, indicating he had a mere thirty minutes (and less) before his battery died.

Robin asked, "What happened Cyborg?"

Cyborg said, "My power cell is dying."

Starfire shrieked, "Dying? We must get you to a hospital quick! You shall not die on us!"

Cyborg, to assuage the alien's concerns, added, "It's natural, Star. Once every few years. I just need to go back to the tower and switch power cells, and I'll be good as new. Promise."

Beast Boy commented, "Guess this means you won't be able to continue the game with us."

Cyborg answered, "No. But that doesn't mean you can't have fun without me. Well, I'll see you." With that, Cyborg quickly ran off, heading back towards Titans Tower to beat his dying power cell and change it to a fresh one.

Before the Titans could continue their game however, they got an alert on their T-communicators indicating a crime was in progress. And today's criminal was one they had not seen before.

Robin said, "Come on Titans. A magician is robbing the jewelry store downtown."

* * *

Over at the jewelry store, the magician criminal known as Mumbo Jumbo was using two massive gloves to steal as many jewels as possible, filling them up so quickly he conjured up more hands from his hat to take more jewels.

And also in the jewelry store were a few customers that were now being held hostage by Mumbo's tricks that ensnared them in endless handkerchiefs, rendering them unable to move or scream in panic. Commenting on the situation, Mumbo said, "I do love a captive audience."

However, soon on the scene were the Teen Titans, well four of them at least as Cyborg was changing power cells. Robin opened with, "They may be captive now, but you're the one getting locked up."

Mumbo replied, "Now Robin, I'm sure there's a peaceful solution here. But this isn't it." With that, Mumbo conjured up two cartoon bombs and threw them at the Titans. A quick shield on Raven's part prevented the impact.

The Titans soon began their attack on Mumbo, with Starfire sending a flurry of her starbolts right at the magician. In a very craft move, Mumbo waved his wands and the starbolts were turned into ping-pong balls that soon bounced against the four Titans.

Within seconds, most of the balls had hit Starfire, unfortunately forcing her onto the ground. Beast Boy then charged right at Mumbo as a wooly mammoth, trying to ram Mumbo into the ground, but Mumbo used some of his stage magic to summon up a mouse that soon caused Beast Boy to scurry away - apparently he is no smarter than the animals he turns into. Mumbo proceeded to then summon a series of handkerchiefs that soon ensnare Beast Boy, turning him back into a human and keeping him from shapeshifting.

Robin then sends a couple of bird-a-rangs right at Mumbo, but he eludes them with surprising skill before sending a series of metal hoops towards the Boy Wonder, constraining him. Now it was just between Raven and Mumbo to see who comes out.

Mumbo said, "Now for my next trick, I need a lovely volunteer." With that, Raven was trapped inside a wooden box as two saws aimed right at her chest and torso. Mumbo added, "It's only fair to warn you I have no idea what I'm doing." Some magician, right?

Raven smirked, "Cute trick. Ready to see some real power?" With that, Raven was surrounded by a black glow as she shouted, "Azarath metrion zinthos", breaking apart the box and sending Mumbo flying back.

Mumbo sent at Raven a cherry bomb from his glove (one on his hand, not one gathering up jewels) but Raven surrounded it in a quick black glow before sending it right back at Mumbo (the rhyme is unintentional), covering him completely red.

Mumbo then noted, "Trying to steal the limelight, eh? Then, I'll make you part of the show."

With that, Mumbo sent an infinite number of doves to surround and fly around Raven, and no matter how many she blasted away, she couldn't get out as the doves soon spiraled into a vortex that proceeded to suck Raven into Mumbo's hat.

The Titans quickly realized what was happening, but Mumbo's tricks had them occupied so they couldn't save her from the criminal magician. When Raven was no longer in sight, having been completely sucked into the magician's hat, Mumbo greeted them with, "Ta, ta, kiddies, but The Amazing Mumbo Jumbo has more performances to make today."

With that, Mumbo vanished, leaving three Titans to try to locate where Mumbo took his loot (and Raven).

* * *

Raven finally landed at the bottom of Mumbo's infinite hat before hearing, "This will teach you not to heckle the headliner. Presto change-o."

With that, Raven went from a pale gray teenager wearing a black leotard and blue cloak to a white rabbit wearing a small black leotard and blue cloak. She dryly noted upon seeing what she was changed into, "Super."

A few moments later, Raven was trying to assure herself that this was an illusion, a bad one at that, with, "This can't be for real. This is all one of Mumbo's illusions."

However, she was then greeted with a burst of spotlight that near blinded her as a mysterious voice said, "Well, look what the hand dragged in." The voice soon revealed himself to be a playing card, with a rapidly changing face on the card, going from the jack of hearts to the seven of clubs.

Raven asked, "Uh, who are you?"

The card responded, "I'm Anycard. You know, 'pick a card, any card'?"

Raven rolled her eyes and then asked, "Uh-huh. Where the heck am I?"

Anycard responded, "You're inside Mumbo's hat."

Raven then asked, "And I'm a rabbit, why?"

The card told her, "Do you always ask such stupid questions."

An infuriated Raven pouted, "It is not a stupid question, Any card! That's it. I'm outta here! Azarath metrion zinthos!"

Unfortunately, that failed to get her out of Mumbo's hat but it did manage to tie her bunny ears together. Anycard explained to Raven, "Your magic won't work. Mumbo's the only magician in here. The rest of us are just for tricks."

Raven untangled her ears with some difficulty and combination of her feet and paws, before commenting, "I'm nobody's prop. So how do I get out?"

Suddenly, Raven was covered in shadow - a shadow that very loosely resembled a hand. It was a hand, and soon Mumbo spoke to her, "I can't tell you that. A magician never reveals his secrets."

Anycard panicked, "The hand! Scram!" With that, Anycard quickly vanished from sight as the hand, Mumbo's hand, grabbed Raven and dragged her up by the ears.

As Raven was forcefully dragged up, Raven demanded, "If you're really so amazing, Mumbo, what do you need me for?"

Mumbo replied to her, "Like I said in the store, I need a lovely assistant, and you're my assistant for the big show tonight."

Raven defiantly stated, "I'm not helping you with your stupid tricks!"

Mumbo's answer came following a short laugh on the magician's part, "Silly rabbit. You don't have a choice. My hat, my rules."

* * *

The three Titans were frantically searching for Mumbo, trying to figure out where he took Raven and the loot. Shortly after they started the search, Cyborg rejoined the Titans after fixing his power cell, rendering him able to run for much more than it was earlier in the afternoon.

After nearly an hour of searching, Mumbo struck, beginning a magic-fueled rampage throughout the city, using his gloves to carry as much loot as he can carry. The Titans immediately began their pursuit of the criminal magician.

Beast Boy charged at him as a bull in an alleyway, but Mumbo merely used his red cape as a flag and said, "Ole" as Beast Boy crashed into a wall, causing him to return to human form, completely dazed.

Mumbo swept over towards a nearby ATM before using his magic to blow it open and all of the money went into his many giant gloves.

Robin threw a couple of bird-a-rangs at Mumbo, but he used his magic to turn them into rubber ducks that harmlessly impacted the ground. Mumbo then sent towards Robin a large burst of magic that slammed him into a nearby building. This was not going to be easy for the Titans.

Starfire flew towards Mumbo and managed to get a lucky shot that blasted him back. Unfortunately, Mumbo was not out of the fight and sent a powerful kick (magic-enhanced, of course) that caused her to be sent right towards Cyborg.

The half-robot barely avoided Starfire as he sent several blasts from his sonic cannon right towards Mumbo. He expertly avoided them all and soon Mumbo was able to get into Cyborg's face, blasting him back with a water-spewing flower on his shirt.

After besting all four Titans, Mumbo Jumbo said, "I'll be here all week" and then vanished again, leaving the Titans to handle Mumbo's magic-infused mess.

* * *

Raven was now sitting in a cage in Mumbo's studio, trying to figure out some way to escape before Mumbo decides to humiliate her in front of an audience of Mumbos. It was his hat, but she had to best him to return home.

Raven yelled out, "Azarath metrion zinthos" but her spell didn't work and failed to change her situation.

Mumbo whispered to her, "Try Abracadabra."

Raven reluctantly said, "Abracadabra" and was soon close to drowning in flowers, yet another one of Mumbo's magic tricks. Mumbo commented, "That gag never gets old! Here. A peace offering."

Mumbo pulled out a small yellow bird and put it in his hand, pushing it towards Raven. Raven, unimpressed, said, "You pulled that out of your sleeve."

Mumbo asked towards her, "Must you over-analyze everything? Why can't you just sit back and enjoy the show?"

Raven deadpanned right back at Mumbo, "Because it isn't real. Your act, your hat - it is all smoke and mirrors. You probably just hypnotized me into thinking that I'm a rabbit. And when I get home, my nose'll twitch every time a bell rings."

Mumbo commented, "Hmm, that would be an interesting trick, but no."

Raven snarls at him, "As soon as I figure out how you're creating this illusion, your 'powers' will be gone."

Mumbo snapped back at her, "Knowing how the tricks work doesn't make them any less real. If you look like a rabbit and hop like a rabbit, then guess what, kid? You're really a rabbit."

Mumbo then plucks one of Raven's whiskers off of her face causing her to yell out, "Ow."

Mumbo added, "For real" menacingly.

* * *

The Titans were now trying to figure out who Mumbo really was - maybe if they knew who he was, they could find his hiding place and Raven along with it.

Cyborg was processing the vocal recordings of Mumbo's voice, trying to match his voice to someone's voice in Jump City. It had to match somebody, but the question was: to who?

After about an hour filtering through voices, Cyborg got a match, "Kenneth Thomsen. Lives at 980 Magic Band Way."

Robin shouted out, "Titans go", intending on reclaiming Raven from Mumbo.

* * *

Back in Mumbo's hat, Raven was still trapped inside of her cage as hundreds of Mumbos began pouring into the stage in which she was being held captive. It was going to be a performance for her - her first and last performance as Mumbo announced, "Tonight, one night only, I will make my lovely assistant Raven disappear, forever."

She had to get out but she had no idea how Mumbo was keeping her like this, and the other Titans were nowhere in sight. She could only hope this humiliation ended quickly.

When the stage's audience filled up completely with Mumbos of all sizes, ages, and genders, Mumbo started the show.

The first act Mumbo did was having Raven perform was a jig, replacing her cloak and leotard with a bunch of Russian polka clothing. Raven could not control herself as she did a self-deprecating jig for the Mumbo audience, who laughed and jeered at her.

After the jig, Mumbo decided to have her do some prop comedy, something she enjoyed even less than the jig. Raven tried to fight Mumbo using the two oranges he gave her to use, but Mumbo instead sent a piano that smashed Raven to the side of the stage, leaving her remarkably unscathed.

Raven asked Mumbo, "Why let me live when you're just going to kill me in the end?"

Mumbo replied, "That'd ruin the trick, my dear."

Then, Raven, back in her regular attire, was then was put into a cage that was then covered by a sheet. Mumbo pulled the sheet and revealed Raven in three twisted boxes that contained her head, midsection, and legs.

Raven was thinking about how Mumbo was doing this when something finally dawned on her. Raven said out loud, "Mumbo, you work by taking powers from those who have less than you. I just figured it out."

Mumbo said back at her, "There is no way in hell I am going to tell you the truth."

Raven smirked, "That can be arranged."

Mumbo asked, "Even if that was true, why would it matter? I still win!"

Raven said, "Because, even in your world..." as her eyes began to glow a bright white, creating a massive white glow that blinded Mumbo long enough to find that the three boxes were gone - revealing a once again human Raven, levitating in the air.

She continued, "...I still win." With that, Raven did a little flick and sent Mumbo flying out of the stage, which soon pushed him into reality again, in his house.

Mumbo was surprised to see Raven then materialize, holding his hat in her hands. Raven quickly surrounded Mumbo's wand with black energy and took it from him before smashing it into the ground, which turned Mumbo back into Kenneth Thomsen, removing his magician get-up and blue skin color as well as destroying the hands, releasing his loot everywhere across his house.

Thomsen asked, "How the heck did you do it?"

Raven smirked, "A good magician never reveals her secret. Now, time for payback." Raven put Mumbo's hat atop her head, letting Thomsen see her real face as she then surrounded the ex-magician with black energy.

She then threw him across his house, battering him badly and he couldn't do anything to stop it - it wasn't his world and she was more powerful than him.

Meanwhile, outside of his house, the four Titans were hearing the sounds of Mumbo (or Kenneth Thomsen) inside and rushed in quickly to find Raven standing atop the criminal, who was badly battered and breathing heavily.

Robin asked, "What happened Raven?"

Raven responded, "He made a rabbit and after his fun with me, I returned the favor. And this looks like your final performance, Mumbo."

Thomsen sighed in disappointment.

* * *

June 17, 2015. Kenneth Thomsen was sitting alone in his jail cell, looking coldly out the window to see the dark empty night. He had been on top of the world, well his world at least, but it was all taken away from him by Raven, who had his hat and already turned his Mumbo dopplegangers into versions of herself.

Kenneth yelled out loud, "Can anyone tell me how her magic bested mine?"

Suddenly, a mysterious, crisp voice meeted his words with, "Because it wasn't magic. It was something else. Something greater."

Kenneth looked out and saw Slade's familiar two-toned mask heading his way. He asked Slade, "What is it then? How could she be more powerful than me?"

Slade commented, "Looks are deceiving, Mumbo. She is much more than she looks. If you wanted to take all of her powers, render her helpless, you'd need infinitely many more of yourself to do it, and that might not be enough."

Kenneth noted, "How could she have so much dark energy?"

Slade replied, "That's a secret I'll leave you to figure out. You'll have plenty of time to figure it out. I'll be busy with my own schemes, and I guarantee she and I will cross paths."

Slade left Kenneth to think about how exactly Raven beat him - what being could have more magic than a magician, or dark energy in this case? When Kenneth sudddenly came to the conclusion of what exactly Raven was - not a witch or a sorceress, he said, "Dear God, I'm a dead man."


	6. Nevermore

**Author's Notes**

Okay first off, I am certainly surprised at the positive reaction you gave to last chapter - I was expecting your response to be a bit more negative: it was a chapter I wasn't too fond on writing, but one I ultimately had to.

To Kaarlinaa, thanks for the review and I will continue.

To Darkwarrior1010, if you want to see Raven and Slade together in the end, I will have a poll up say after I post _Apprentice Part I_ (which is tentatively chapter 8) and one of the options is likely going to be Raven still in Slade's hands.

To LordMesirix, I am currently planning on doing _How Long is Forever_ as one of the chapters in the story - it will come towards the end of the story, one because I am working out the kinks in it to figure out which reality it will follow - one closer to the series with Nightwing or the _Betrayed, Cast Off, Angry_ story with Claw.

To guest, Slade won't have as big a role in this chapter, but he will become more prominent in the next two chapters. Like I said to Darkwarrior1010, Chapter 8 is the tentative one that Slade makes Raven his apprentice. You'll see what happens then and how he coerces her to his side, as well as what happens when the Titans find out (which will be after Chapter 8 but before the end of the story).

To Lord-of-Change, I used some of your ideas for _Nevermore_ (this chapter), but of course I did have to lean it towards the series some (I am keeping in Dr. Light). With _Masks_, I have thought of how to make Raven be able to be X without the Titans knowing (she may not be a whole lot physically, but her powers aren't her only skills) - it likely is similar to the show how Robin played Red X. While Robin may have anger towards Slade for being a criminal, I doubt he will become obsessed over him - that is Raven's job now. Your suggestion is duly noted though.

To everlostneverfound, Raven does have a temper that can make her be drastic (this will be shown in this chapter). Raven was able to escape because she realized Mumbo can only take power from those with less than him - Raven had much more power than him (and that was where Mumbo could not reach it), so she simply called on that power and returned herself to normal before kicking Mumbo's butt and stealing his hat. I hope that answers your query.

To Angel of Azarath, I felt that _The Sum of his Parts_ wouldn't be enough for this story, and there was Mumbo, so I chose to do _Bunny Raven_ (which I have to admit is an episode I am not very fond of - in season 3, only _Revolution_ is worse in my opinion), and I modified it to fit it being Raven alone inside of Mumbo's hat.

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

July 7, 2015. It's after Independence Day, when some snobbish Briton tried to hypnotize all of Jump City into thinking they still belonged to the British (but wasn't California, where Jump City obviously is, originally Spanish, or Mexican when the US acquired it?). However, the Titans took down the antagonist before he ruined their Fourth of July. While the hypnotist, known as Mad Mod, managed to brainwash Beast Boy and Starfire into becoming his slaves and capture Robin and Cyborg, he did not count on Raven. She managed to destroy his controlling device which took down his entire army and freed everyone from his control before sending the elderly criminal into the ocean.

Now, the Titans were trying to halt a bank robbery, or rather, an armored truck robbery - and the truck's contents included about two hundred five pound gold bars. It was very late at night, with the street lights all on and bright, and who was to rob the truck but the ever-illuminated Doctor Arthur Light.

Robin shouted out, "Give up, and we'll go easy on you."

Light responded with, "Your pathetic skills cannot outshine the brilliance of Dr. Light."

Robin then shouted, "Titans go" as Light fired a massive beam of light towards them, which it miraculously misses.

Robin flew into the air and sent a bird-a-rang right towards Light. However, the malevolent doctor got out of the way before it could impact him. Light countered, "You're fast, but I doubt you'll enjoy moving at the speed of light!"

With that, the lightbulb logo in the front of Light's suit emitted a bright yellow glow and sent a large beam of light Robin's way, which impacted and blasted him over the roof of a nearby building.

Beast Boy then charged at Doctor Light as a wolf, trying to slash apart the criminal's equipment. Light spoke, "A wolf is no threat when it's blind as a bat."

With that, Light threw a couple of bright globes at Beast Boy, which quickly detonated and blinded Beast Boy, resulting in a very heavy headache, forcing him to return to human form as he walks around completely dazed with his hands on his head trying to straighten himself out.

As Light looked on, he did not notice Cyborg had picked up an SUV parked nearby. The half-robot said, "Watch yourself, lightweight. Things are about to get heavy."

With that, Cyborg swung the SUV at Light, who turned around to see it. While Light was able to jump back to dodge the blow, the SUV's smash into the ground created a shockwave that did send him tumbling back.

Light responded to this attack with a one-handed energy blast that tore the SUV into two pieces. After a brief chuckle, Light threw a red projectile right at Cyborg, which exploded and sent Cyborg pummeling into the ground, with just his hands and head above the ground of the pavement, and able to move.

Cyborg yelled out, "Uh, hey. Let me go!"

Light then directed his focus at Starfire, who charged right at him with starbolts, trying to knock him out and free Cyborg. Light expertly avoided each one as he pulled out two whips of light. He cracked the first whip and managed to snag Starfire by the legs, knocking her down onto the ground. The second whip soon ensnared her legs up against her chest and made it impossible for her to move her arms.

After finishing the four Titans, Light said, "Now, if nobody minds, I'll be taking the gold and the girl." Light picked up Starfire and began to walk towards the truck, where he intends to get away.

Before he could, he was interrupted by a voice hiding in the darkness, which said, "I mind."

Light turned around and saw Raven floating in mid-air, preparing a blast of dark energy to send right at Light. As she spoke, "Azarath, metrion, zin...", Light sent a blast right at Raven that sent her right to the street.

Light dropped Starfire as he walked up to Raven. An awful thought now rolled through the doctor's head - maybe instead of just taking Starfire, he should also take Raven instead - two new victims at one low price. Light spoke to Raven, "Bit of advice. Shorter magic words."

Light prepared a whip of light to wrap around Raven, but she quickly got up and kicked it right out of his hands and out of reach. A black glow then surrounded a nearby motorcycle and Raven threw it right at Light, who blasted it apart before it could reach him.

Light retaliated with a massive blast of light that soon sent her even farther down the block. Light headed towards Raven, whose back was turned to him, in hopes of capturing her and bringing her back to his hideout to do what he did to the other girls he had kidnapped - rape and murder them.

Raven loudly said to him, as if she was trying to warn him, "Don't come any closer."

Light remarked at that, "What's the matter? Afraid of the light? You'll get used to it, well for the little time you have to live."

However, Light was startled when Raven turned around to face him - her eyes were not their regular amethyst or white, they were blood red as she stood up and then grew in size, to at least three times her current size, now her shadow was much bigger than Dr. Light, and soon black tentacles emerged from Raven's cloak, which seemed to fully fold around her body.

Light shrieked out, "No. No" as the tentacles grabbed his suit and sparks began to fly from it. He continued, "My suit. What are you...no, no", only to find that the tentacles were now dragging him towards the red-eyed Raven, as if she were trying to consume her. He continued, "You win! I surrender! Stop!"

Light continued to scream as he was dragged towards the edge of Raven's cloak, and she mocked to him in an incredibly demonic tone, "What's the matter? Afraid of the dark?"

Light cried out, "I surrender! No" as he was forcibly dragged into the folds of Raven's cloak to what appeared to be never-ending darkness. However, Beast Boy quickly ran up to Raven and yelled out, "Raven! Stop!"

That quickly causes Raven's eyes to return to normal from their previous blood-red state. With that, she also begins to shrink back to her normal size as her cloak contracted as well, exposing Dr. Light, who looks as if he was just through a war.

With Light no longer a threat, Starfire was quickly able to break her restraints and flew over to Dr. Light, where Beast Boy also was now. Beast Boy comforted the shell-shocked doctor, saying "It's okay. You're going to be all right."

Light, shaking and shivering in panic, stuttered, "It was...no...so...dark. Make it stop. M...m...make it stop."

Cyborg, free of the pavement, and Robin, who managed to make it back after being blasted away by Light, went over towards Raven. Robin angrily asked her, "Raven, what did you do?"

Raven snarls at them as her eyes glow red again, scaring Robin and Cyborg away from her. After she manages to get her eyes back to normal, she floats away from the scene.

Cyborg asks, "What's her deal?"

Meanwhile, Slade had watched the fight between the Titans and Dr. Light from his base. He commented to himself, "There it is. Now I know how to get her demon side out. Her anger is the key to make her fall in line."

* * *

July 8, 2015. It was bright in the sky, sun shining high, at roughly nine in the morning. The Titans were waking up as Beast Boy shouted through the T-communicator, "Rise and shine, amigos."

The Titans, well Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire went into the kitchen, attached to the main ops room, and see Beast Boy at the stove, wearing a chef's hat. He said to the incoming Titans, "Breakfast is served."

With that, he flipped onto some plates two eggs and put them on the table. Robin commented, "Thanks, Beast Boy. Everything looks great." Starfire inquired, "On my planet, such a feast would mark an arrangement of marriage. Tell me Beast Boy, to whom are you engaged?"

Beast Boy is obviously shocked by the question and moves away from Starfire. Cyborg quickly wolfs down the eggs but after finishing them, he delivers a "Blecch! These aren't eggs, it's that tofu crap!"

To wash it down, Cyborg quickly drinks a glass of milk but he quickly realizes that's not milk as he runs over to the sink to spit it out. He says, "And that's not even real milk!"

A moment later, the four Titans are greeted by the arrival of the fifth Titan, Raven. Starfire asks, "Hello, friend Raven, want breakfast?"

Raven ignored them and went to her teapot, where she poured a cup of her standard morning tea. Beast Boy came behind her and said, "It's good, wakey-wakey, tofu eggs and bakey." There was no "bakey" to speak of, but it was just an expression and it rhymed.

Raven simply deadpanned, "Herbal tea" as she grabbed her filled cup. Robin said, "Come on, Raven. You could probably use some food. Your head probably isn't in the right place after what you did to Dr. Light."

Robin just **had** to say that, which resulted in his tofu eggs exploding in his face as Raven growled at him with her eyes both blood-red.

With that, Raven quickly left the kitchen with her cup of tea. Beast Boy said, "Maybe you should go apologize."

Robin demanded, "Why? She's the one that caused my breakfast to explode. And she's the one going out of control. Her head isn't in the right place."

Cyborg then told Robin, "Yeah, but after the weirdness that went down last night, you should know better than to mess with her. After we brought Light down to the station, we discovered that Light wasn't just a thief - he was a serial rapist. He raped and murdered at least a dozen women, including the Elongated Man's wife, and was almost certainly going to do the same to Rae and Star. If anything, Grass Stain interfered in preventing her from finishing off the monster."

Robin asked, "And what about Mumbo? She disarmed him and then smashed him around."

Starfire then added, "Raven is complicated. There are things we are not meant to understand."

Beast Boy threw in, "She almost never laughs at my jokes. She almost always treats me like the way you treat my eggs."

Cyborg added, "At least she listens. I just kinda tune you out."

The Titans soon noticed the small raincloud that emerged over the changeling, disappointed that Cyborg (probably his best friend), doesn't listen to his jokes.

Robin interjected, "Then how are we supposed to deal with her? How can we even trust her?"

Cyborg responded, "She's our friend. What more do we need to know?"

* * *

A few hours later, say at two o'clock in the afternoon, Robin walked up to Raven's door and decided to apologize for what he said earlier. He knocked on the door, but was somewhat suprised to be met with silence, like if Raven wasn't even in her room.

Robin said, "Oh well, nobody's home."

However, he was soon confronted by Beast Boy, who said, "You might want to knock a little harder."

With that, Robin and Beast Boy went to Raven's door, trying to get in. Beast Boy pounded on the door in an attempt to get it open, but after a few hard knocks, the door literally fell down onto the ground. Beast Boy commented, "Now we both have to apologize."

The two Titans went into Raven's room, a place they have been ill-advised to visit. Robin said, "Uh, Raven. Sorry about the door. Raven?"

Beast Boy said, "Dude, she's not here. Come on. We're in Raven's room. We should not be in Raven's room."

Robin noted, "She doesn't let anybody in here, so this would be our big chance to find out more about her."

Beast Boy walked over to Raven's dresser and looked at what appeared to be a beauty mirror. He said, "You're right, Robin. For instance, check out this beauty mirror. Who woulda thought Raven spends time sprucing?"

The changeling looked at the mirror and asked himself, "Is that a zit?"

Suddenly, four red eyes appeared on the mirror and Beast Boy was grabbed by a giant hand of black energy and then dragged into the mirror. Robin rushed over to Beast Boy and was trying to pull him out, saying, "Come on, we should really get out..."

However, Beast Boy was soon sent into the mirror and Robin followed him down what appeared to be an infinite vortex that then dumped them onto what appeared to be an asteroid before the vortex closed.

* * *

After landing on the asteroid and regaining their bearings, Beast Boy told Robin, "I told you we shouldn't have gone in her room. Where are we?"

Robin checked his communicator, which doubled as a GPS. He said, "You're asking the wrong person. GPS must be on the blink, because it's saying we're still in the Tower."

Beast Boy asked, "So how do we get back?"

Robin replied, "Guess we start walking."

Beast Boy noted, "Come on. I'm serious. We're on a rock in the middle of..." Before he could continue, a couple of rocks shifted position to create a winding path for the two Titans to walk on.

Beast Boy continued, "Oh. If sending us to Weirdsville is Raven's idea of a joke, I'm so not laughing."

As Beast Boy and Robin began to walk on the path created by the asteroids, Robin commented, "Hey, she didn't send us here. You were the one that picked up her mirror and toying around with it."

"Who booby traps a mirror?"

"Maybe it wasn't a trap. Maybe it was her way home. Maybe this is where she's from."

"Definitely creepy enough."

However as they continued walking, a mysterious girly childish voice encountered them with, "Turn back."

"Like I was saying."

The voice continued, "Turn back", with the two of them unable to find the source.

They then came across three small black birds on a barren tree that are repeatedly saying, "Turn back". It turns out that the birds are the source. But why?

Beast Boy commented, "Sweet! Betcha they can tell us how to get home."

Robin noted, "Careful. How do we know they're not a threat?"

Beast Boy walked up to the tree and said, "Hello? Remember me? Beast Boy? If they were dangerous, I'd know."

Then, in a soft tone, he spoke to the birds, "Hey little guys. My buddy and I were wondering if..."

Before he could continue, the three birds flew away as five more flew towards the changeling's feet, soon sprouting four red eyes and sharp teeth.

Following those five came an enormous swarm of ravens, which Beast Boy tried to defeat by swallowing them as a hippo, but was eventually forced to spit them out after they pecked at his tongue.

With that, Beast Boy went over towards Robin now as a llama, who was trying to fend off the irksome birds with two bird-a-rangs.

Robin got onto Beast Boy as they fled away from the birds charging at them. However, some of the birds got in front of the duo and soon caused the path the two were on to collapse.

As a result, the two of them fell over the side, with Robin hanging on the edge and to Beast Boy, who was now a falcon, to reduce the weight Robin had to support and to better move.

Beast Boy soon found himself looking at a pair of bright pink boots on the other side of the path as he was greeted with a cheery, "Hey guys, what's up?"

Robin, soon realizing that they weren't dangling down, but in fact dangling up, noted, "We don't know anymore."

With that, the two fell down right onto the ground with the pink-cloaked Raven laughing hysterically at their fall.

Beast Boy turned back into a human and said, "Raven, how did, where are, what just, why are you wearing pink."

This Raven giggled before responding, "Because it's my favorite color." A puzzled Beast Boy asked, "It is?"

Robin got up from the ground and said, "Look, I'd love to talk fashion, but I don't suppose you know how to get home."

Raven spoke, "The Forbidden Door. It's the only way out, but you don't want to go there. Not now"

Robin and Beast Boy said at the same time, "Uh, yes we do."

She then told them, "'Kay, but don't say I didn't warn ya."

She then pranced away with her arms out away from her as she began to make sounds like an airplane, running through a nearby arch. Beast Boy asked, "Have you ever seen her this happy?"

Robin's response was, "I didn't even know Raven could do happy."

* * *

Then, Robin and Beast Boy found themselves in a very bright place, one that could be described as a "candyland". Robin asked, "Now where are we?"

Beast Boy joked after getting there, "I think this might be where air fresheners come from."

Raven came into view, laughing heavily and said, "Good one." Robin inquired, "You're laughing?" Beast Boy added, "At one of my jokes?"'

Raven commented, "Sure. I've always thought you were funny, BB. But hey, looks aren't everything."

She continued to laugh before vanishing. Beast Boy commented, "She ditched us! I can't believe she ditched us! Next time I see her, it's not gonna be pretty."

* * *

Back at the Tower, Raven was meditating heavily on the roof when Cyborg and Starfire came up onto the roof. Cyborg said, "Raven, you okay? We stopped by your room and the door's been knocked down."

Shortly after, Raven's eyes opened very wide and she began to inexplicably laugh for a few seconds before putting her hands on her mouth, shutting herself up. On the situation, Raven commented, "Need to be alone."

With that, Raven left the roof, leaving Cyborg and Starfire alone. Starfire inquired, "Many of your Earthly ways are still strange to me, but that was...just plain freaky. Correct?" Well, that marks one idiom Starfire has mastered.

Raven went down to her room and saw the door was knocked down, arousing her anger. She quickly used her powers to correct it and put the door back in place. Now came the matter of finding what happened.

She got her answer mere seconds later when she saw her hand mirror having fallen onto the ground. She uttered a quiet, "No." Now she knew why she uncontrollably laughed - somebody was in her head, and it just happened to be two somebodies.

* * *

Robin and Beast Boy found themselves back in the same astrodimensional space that they first found themselves in. They continued walking when they came across another Raven, but unlike earlier, she was in a gray cloak, and unlike her previous cheery self, was incredibly depressed and sad.

Upon seeing her, Beast Boy shouted at her, "Where were you? Shopping for robes!?" As he screams this, Beast Boy's head increases wildly in size while Raven shrinks to the size of a toddler, cowering away in fear of the changeling. This was obviously not the best moment for the changeling.

Beast Boy's head returned to normal as he walked up to Raven, calmly saying, "Whoa, easy. I didn't mean it" as Raven returned to her proper size. Robin soon looked down the path and said, "Hey! That's the forbidden door, right, Raven?" Raven nodded yes and Robin continued, "Come on, let's go."

Before he could go much farther, what appeared to be a long and winding maze emerged in front of them. Robin gasped, "Whoa" and threw two bird-a-rangs at the walls, trying to tear it down. Beast Boy turned into a hawk and tried to fly over the maze, but before he could get too far, he was electrically shocked by something unknown and falls down onto the ground. He commented (after turning back into a human), "Great."

Raven said in a very downbeat, panicked tone, "It's a maze. You can't get out. You have to go through. I can show you the way, but when we reach the end, you won't like me anymore. He already doesn't like me."

Beast Boy said, "Come on, that's not..." Before he could continue, Raven had already gone into the maze, navigating her way through. He then added, "Gee, Raven. Moody much?"

Robin noted, "Yeah, it's like she's a whole different person." With that, the two Titans began to walk through the maze.

As they walked through the maze, Raven was repeatedly apologizing to the two of them for everything she has done, even if some of those things weren't exactly her fault.

For example, as they neared the end of the maze, she was saying, "And...remember the time I called you both immature pinheads? I'm sorry for that too. And also the..."

Before she could finish, Beast Boy threw in, "For the hundredth millionth time...", and Robin joined him in saying, "...we forgive you."

At last, they have almost reached the end of the maze. Raven said, "That's the end."

Beast Boy said, "Sweet! Alright, Raven."

Before Beast Boy and Robin could exit the maze, they were confronted by a two-faced stone sculpture, with four stone arms with swords. One face was smiling while the other was angry. Upon seeing the creature, Raven said, "Told you you wouldn't like me when we got here."

With that, Raven and her maze disappear, leaving Robin and Beast Boy to tangle with the sculpture trying to disembowel them.

Beast Boy turns into a bear and claws away at the sculpture, but it did no damage to it, and the sculpture responded by knocking Beast Boy away. Robin threw a couple of bird-a-rangs towards the sculpture, but that did about as effectiveness as throwing paper balls at it.

Beast Boy turned into a hawk and went at the sculpture, trying to claw it out with his talons, but the sculpture soon caught Beast Boy and squeezed him.

However, he was soon greeted with an unknown voice, one that was cocky and challenging, one that said, "Yo, eight eyes! Hai-yah!"

Beast Boy saw Raven, now in a green cloak, as she kicked the sculpture down, freeing Beast Boy. He returned to human form and quickly backed away from the sculpture. She gloated, "Woo-hoo, in your faces!"

The sculpture gets back up and swings at Raven with its swords, but Raven expertly dodged each blade and then leaped at the sculpture, with her hand out towards it, pointing her index and middle fingers together, and dragged them down the entire height of the sculpture.

One second later, the sculpture was literally split in two, and fell down onto the ground. Looking at her accomplishment, Raven boasted, "Hoo-ah! High fives! Come on!"

Beast Boy, trying to figure out what the hell just happened, complained, "What is your deal? First you nuke breakfast, then you finally laugh at my jokes, then you're all weepy, and now you're a Marine? Make up your mind. Who are you?"

Green Raven was soon joined by the Pink Raven and the Gray Raven, who all said at the same time, "I'm Raven."

Robin summed up, "Happy, timid, brave..."

The pink Raven interrupted him and said, "You forgot dopey."

Robin continued, "Different sides of Raven's personality. We're not in Raven's home."

Beast Boy added, "We're in her head."

However, he was interrupted by Raven (the real Raven), who furiously spoke, "And I want you out!"

Raven landed in front of her variously-cloaked dopplegangers who then vanished once she landed, as now Raven was there, making them no longer necessary to be there, not at the moment at least.

Raven walked up to Beast Boy and growled, "The mirror you found is for meditation. It's a portal into my mind! Not a toy", the last few words she said under gritted teeth towards the changeling. Beast Boy chuckled, "My bad."

Soon after, a bunch of ravens soon came flying towards the trio, moving much faster than they had before. Raven insisted, "You have to go, NOW!"

Robin asked, "Hold up. What's going on here?"

Raven responded, "Last night, something...got loose. Something bad."

But Beast Boy wasn't convinced and complained at her, "Oh, no, you don't! I've had it with this mystery girl routine. I want to know what exactly we're talking about here!"

He soon got his answer, when a massive red demon-like figure with four yellow eyes, long white hair, and a gray loincloth. He shouted in a demonic undertone, "Hatred shall rule!"

The three Titans began to back up as Raven said, "Let's just say I have issues with my father." And she definitely does, but if they knew anything about demons, they would know that this figure happens to be Trigon. Should they know?

Robin and Beast Boy immediately ran away from the demon as it fired a heat blast towards Raven, forcing her to jump backwards to avoid it. Robin and Beast Boy are running towards the Forbidden Portal, trying to get out of Raven's mind and avoid the demon.

Unfortunately, that plan went to ruin when a heat blast came up in front of them and cut them off from the portal. Before the demon could destroy the portal, Raven came up in front of them and shouted, "Azarath metrion zinthos", creating a black shield that covered the three of them and the portal, blocking off the demon's attacks.

Raven yelled to them, "Get out of my mind! Now!"

Beast Boy questioned, "And leave you alone with that?"

Robin added, "Not going to happen."

Raven countered, "It's my problem. I'll deal with it. If I lose, you'll be stuck in here forever."

The demon fired off more blasts of energy towards the shield, breaching it and causing the shield to fall apart. Once the shield collapses, Raven pushes them away from her, shouting "Go", sending them towards the portal, but they stop just short.

Raven then began attacking the demon, sending black energy blasts towards it, which do little more than annoy him, and the demon began trying to swat her, only to be avoided by Raven's skillful evasion (with no small thanks to her smaller frame). In the midst of the fight, Raven manages to hit the demon in the chest and swoops in behind his head, only for the demon to turn around and grabs her, crushing her into submission.

It claimed to her, "Rage shall consume you."

Robin shouted, "Hey! Looks like someone needs a time out" as he sent an exploding bird-a-rang towards the demon, which hit its hand, causing it quite a bit of pain and forced it to drop Raven, who was then caught by Beast Boy, now as a falcon, and lands her onto a slab behind heavy cover.

Raven awakens and says, "You stayed. I thought you didn't like me", saying it as if she was certain that nobody liked her. Beast Boy countered, "Thought you didn't like me."

Robin interjected, "I like both of you. Now get yourselves over here!"

The demon, recovered from Robin's attack, shouts "Feel my fury" as he sends another blast towards Robin's position, forcing him to jump away as it crumbled his position.

Beast Boy then took to the skies as a pterodactyl, trying to claw at the demon to take it down while getting support from Raven's energy blasts. Beast Boy got more effect out of his attacks on the demon than with the sculpture and Raven's black energy blasts also did its share of damage, with Robin's bird-a-rangs offering minor damage, even though he was the least practical for this fight.

The demon then unleashed more heat blasts that forced the three to fall back, going away from it, hiding behind a rock sculpture and Beast Boy was now human again.

Raven took off her hood and said, "He's too strong. Even with your help, I can't defeat him."

Robin suggested, "So call for back-up. What about all those other you's?"

Beast Boy added, "Yeah, that green one kind of kicked butt."

Raven dissuaded them with, "It still wouldn't be enough. None of my other sides have the kind of power we need."

However, Beast Boy threw in, "Not alone, but what about together? They're all part of who you are, right?"

Robin shouted, "Go for it. We got your back!"

With that, Robin and Beast Boy went to distract the demon. Raven pulled her hood back up and her eyes glowed white as she summoned her other selves - pink (happy), gray (timid), green (brave), plus yellow (intelligence, who also had glasses), purple (love), brown (what seemed like laziness), and orange (impudence), all hooded.

Raven and her emotions went up into the air as they integrated themselves into her, creating a white-cloaked Raven.

And that Raven could not come soon enough - Robin and Beast Boy were now engaging the demon's ravens swarming on them and trying to attack them.

Raven emerged behind the demon, who then turned around to see her, now at about the same height as him. She used her black energy to create what seemed like a straitjacket on the demon, shouting in a fairly deep tone, "You are going back where you belong."

The demon countered with, "Never" and broke free of its restraints, soon sending a wave of his heat blasts towards Raven, who blocked it with her own black energy, soon resulting in what appeared to be a tug-of-war, as the two seemed so evenly matched.

Over with Robin and Beast Boy, the ravens were starting to fade, with all of the demon's energy now focused on defeating Raven, which mildly relieved the Boy Wonder and changeling.

Raven soon gained the upper hand, increasing the energy sent at the demon and impacting it, hard. The demon soon changed form, now creating what appeared to be another Raven, with a red cloak and four glowing red eyes. It soon crackled into red sparks that joined with the white Raven.

That soon changed Raven back to her original self as well as turning the previously red background black. Raven, exhausted from the fight, falls down towards the ground but is caught by Robin and Beast Boy.

Robin said, "We got you" with Beast Boy adding, "It's okay." Raven rubbed her head and said, "Thank you...friends."

Beast Boy asked, "So we really are friends?" Raven nodded yes. He continued, "And you really think I'm funny?" Raven replied, "Don't push it."

* * *

With that, the three went to the Forbidden Portal and returned from Raven's mind back to the Tower (and in Raven's room no less). They soon heard knocking on the door, which they assumed was coming from Starfire as Cyborg was saying, "Raven asked us not to disturb her."

Starfire was saying, "She could be weeping and..." but was cut off by Cyborg, who said "I don't want to bother her." The alien continued, "But if we merely..."

Suddenly, the door opened, revealing Robin, Beast Boy, and Raven. Cyborg asks, "Where have you been?"

Robin responds, "Just getting to know each other."

Starfire added, "Come, friends. We shall prepare a new breakfast feast."

Beast Boy suggested, "It's a little late for breakfast, Star. Maybe some herbal tea."

Raven threw in, "Actually, breakfast sounds...nice."

Beast Boy said, "Breakfast for dinner? Coming up" as he ran towards the kitchen, but Cyborg soon followed him.

He shouted to him, "Oh, no! I'm cooking this time. We're having real eggs."

Starfire soon followed Cyborg and Beast Boy to the kitchen, leaving Robin and Raven alone.

Robin said, "Now I understand your 'overboard' reactions."

Raven responded, "You only skimmed the surface, Robin. Trust me. Remember when I told you, 'if you knew what I am, you wouldn't want me around'. If you go deeper, you'll know why I said that. There are things you don't want to know about me."

Robin replied, "I'm willing to try. If you want me to."

Raven added, "You won't want to go any deeper. What you know now is why I have to conceal myself."

Watching from his cameras in his base, Slade said, "Indeed I do know. And now I've got a weapon to use against you."


	7. Masks

**Author's Notes**

To guest, based on the rate I am going at now, I am expecting a final length of around 60,000 words. I have already said in _Forces of Nature_ which episodes I am doing, and I will probably add in a few more (and maybe some from the _Teen Titans Go!_ comics). I am still trying to determine if Terra will be in the story, but don't hold your breath for it.

To LordMesirix, the Titans don't know it yet, but Slade is trying to break apart the cloth that makes them up, primarily by targeting the strongest (and most isolated) member, Raven. If you want to try something similar once I have finished _Second Chance_ **and after this story is finished****_, _**go ahead as there are a lot of possibilities of spins on the series. Let me know, though.

To Angel of Azarath, you'll know which episodes are going to be in based on the pattern. I said I wasn't going to do _Switched_ earlier (well the original version), but I am still thinking of a way that could work (without Raven), since it would likely take place while Slade has Raven as his apprentice.

To HuggableMonsters, I will try to update as quickly as I can, but I am balancing two fanfiction stories with the National Novel Writing Month and college, so don't get your hopes up for an update daily, like my previous story.

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

August 11, 2015. Slade is up to his usual tricks, planning something, and there happens to be something he needs. That's why he has sent five of his cronies over to Benson Electronics, which is developing a new microchip known as the "Red Salamander".

It was capable of massive storage capacities and the data programmed into it could be easily retrieved by another microchip being designed by Benson Electronics. This microchip could have its data programmed in, retrieved, and then utilized in mere seconds. No wonder Slade wanted it.

All five thieves were wearing all black and had gray "gloves" plus a mask with two orange dots that covered their entire face, and all five were armed with laser pistols.

After dispatching the security at the front, the five of them soon walked down the corridor to the storage room of the red computer chip they were tasked to steal. Before they could, however, they were soon facing the five Teen Titans, who were already there.

Raven defiantly said to the thieves, "Tell Slade if he wants this, he can come get it himself!"

Robin shouted, "Titans go!" This began the battle between Slade's thieves and the Teen Titans.

Robin delivered a kick that knocked away one of the thieves from the others, but the knocked thief, soon got up and pulled out his laser pistol before taking aim at Robin.

The Boy Wonder was careful to dodge each of the rapid laser rounds heading right towards him, using acrobatics to stay just one step ahead of the thief, but he still had gained no ground on his opponent.

Starfire, powered by her unbridled joy, was floating above the thieves, aiming and firing starbolts at them, knocking some away but most of her bolts missed and the thieves fired their laser pistols towards Starfire, which she was getting increasingly lucky to dodge.

Too bad her luck ran out when enough of the laser pistol blasts caused a section of the ceiling to fall down and impacted the Tamaranean in the head, causing her to fall down towards the ground.

If it were not for a lucky catch by Robin who swooped in and saved the damsel-in-distress, Starfire would have taken quite an impact. She quickly came to and gasped loudly. Robin asked, "Huh?" in an attempt to figure out the answer.

Turns out his answer was some of the thieves had aimed their pistols at them, trying to finish off the interspecies "couple", if they could be called that.

Relief fortunately came in the form of Cyborg, who slammed a shelf full of computers right at the thieves, which knocked one away from the others and forced the other two to fall back, which forced them to drop their pistols. Cyborg noted, "Amazing what you can do with computers these days."

He soon began battle with one of the thieves as Robin and Starfire continued battle with theirs. Beast Boy was using his various animal forms to fight off another one of the thieves, who proved much like his comrades, he was **very** resilient.

Beast Boy turned into a bull, a bighorn sheep, and a viper in an attempt to bring the thief down. The bull and sheep did some effectiveness but the viper wound up being completely ineffective as the thief just squeezed him off.

Raven was engaged against the last thief, using her black energy to strong effect, removing his laser pistol and smashing him against a wall. Raven threw him to the other side of the room, but before she could finish him off, the thief Beast Boy was fighting kicked her legs down and knocked her onto the floor.

That thief aimed his laser pistol point-blank at Raven's head, trying to finish her off, but Beast Boy turned into a donkey and kicked the thief away from Raven. Beast Boy taunted, "You owe me big time", not noticing that one of the thieves was sneaking up behind him and preparing to shoot him while the other Titans were occupied.

Raven responded by sending two computers right into the thief's head, creating large dents on both sides that literally shaped his head like a bowling pin inverted. That thief, now long gone, fell to the floor.

After looking at the fallen thief behind him, Beast Boy realized that these thieves weren't humans - they were robots. Afterwards, he sheepishly said to Raven, "Call it even?"

Raven paid no attention to him as she went back towards the thief she was fighting before, who was sneaking during the fight so cleverly, he had almost taken the "Red Salamander" without anybody noticing. Emphasis being on almost.

Raven spotted him and quickly gave chase as he fled the vault, leaving his other comrades to deal with the Titans while he tried to return the chip to Slade.

The thief took several turns through an underground corridor, trying to escape the dark Titan in quick pursuit, moving quicker than he did, only managing to keep going through his unpredictable turning and movements.

He ran down a long tunnel at which he saw light, glorious light that signaled he was about to get out of Benson Electronics and complete his mission.

Such thoughts did not materialize as just before he was about to escape, he was grabbed with a claw of black energy on part of Raven and then furiously thrown into the wall.

Raven walked up towards the thief, hellbent on getting answers. After taking the chip away from the thief, she shouted, "Now talk! Who's Slade? Why does he want this chip? And why are you working for him?"

Even though Beast Boy realized they were robots, Raven and the other Titans had not, so it was only logical for Raven to shout questions at the thief and expect a response. The response given, was not what she was expecting.

The mask dropped and revealed a computer screen that turned out to be a monitor for a live camera viewing. And the camera just happened to be pointed at Slade, who was now looking right at Raven just as she was looking right back at him.

Slade started, "Excellent work, Raven."

Raven angrily snarled, "Slade."

He added, "Really, I think your skills are improving." Slade, giving a compliment, that is so unlike him, or is it?

Raven challenged, "No more games! What do you want?" Like asking the most dangerous criminal mastermind in the city tell you about his plans will make him tell you his plans.

Slade replied, "But you do lack patience. And of all people, I expected you to have some after all those antagonizing hours spent on meditation. If you're so curious about my intentions, perhaps we should meet face to face." Is Slade that crazy, or is he simply intelligent and merely taunting her? The answer is he's taunting her. And how did he know about her meditations - he had a camera inside the Tower.

She growled at him, "Tell me where you're hiding and I'll be there in a heartbeat."

Slade finished with, "Patience, Raven. Patience."

With that, the monitor fizzled out, indicating the feed was cut as the thief completely fried out, signaling that everything that could be retrieved from it is now gone. Raven dropped the thief onto the floor as the other Titans came up to her, having finished their own fights with Slade's other thieves.

Beast Boy asked, "Raven?", having seen the verbal fight between Raven and Slade along with the rest of the Titans.

* * *

August 13, 2015. Two days after stopping Slade's heist at Benson Electronics, the Titans were unwinding down on the couch, late at night. Well, most of them at least.

Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg were sitting on the couch where Beast Boy was proposing two different movies for the Titans to watch - it was a duel between ninja movie _Super Ninja Showdown Eight_ and monster movie _Maniac Fury: Attack of the Protozoids_. Robin of course, wasn't interested in either of them while Cyborg wanted to watch them both. Starfire was wanting to see if Raven would enjoy "potato-ing the couch" with them. Beast Boy replied that she was still in her room, just like she has for the past two days, obsessing over Slade.

So Starfire decided to go to Raven's room and see if she wanted to watch a movie (or two) with them. She had to knock just to see if Raven would let her enter, since her room was still off-limits to the other Titans.

Raven was thinking about Slade and all the taunting he has done. His words floated through her head like migranes pounding her all at once.

_"Raven, is that the best you can do?"_

_"Excellent work, Raven."_

_"Really, your skills are improving, Raven."_

_"If you're so curious about my intentions, perhaps we should meet face to face_._"_

Raven uttered to herself, "Who are you?" before being greeted with a knock on the door. Raven opened the door to see a certain Tamaranean looking right at her.

Starfire responded, "Raven? I was wondering if you might wish to..."

Raven cut her off with a stiff, "No. But thanks for the offer. I need to figure out why Slade wanted that chip, and I won't rest until I do."

Starfire smiled slightly and replied, "Agreed, and perhaps if you were to take a break, the answer would be easier to..."

She again cut her off with a stern, "I can't. He's planning something, and I have to figure out what."

Starfire tried to say to Raven, "But Raven, I am sure that..."

Before she could finish, Raven went back into her room, covered with articles about the masked maniac and evidence from his previous crimes, and shut the door in Starfire's face.

* * *

August 14, 2015. The "Red Salamander" microchip had been put back in its storage space at Benson Electronics, and under much heavier security than last time, in order to prevent someone from stealing it.

Suddenly, the alarm began to ring wildly, alerting the two guards that someone had broken in. They quickly rushed into the room, SIG Pro pistols drawn, looking for the intruder that broke in. The first guard said, "I don't like this."

The second guard shouted, "Hey!" as he got a good look at the intruder - a female thief with a white skull mask with black X's, an all black-jumpsuit that covered her body from her head to her toes with gray gloves and a gray belt, plus a black tattered cape floating in back.

All of a sudden, this intruder swiped the "Red Salamander" microchip. The second guard yelled, "She's got the chip!"

Before they could open fire, the thief dropped a smoke grenade that quickly blinded both guards long enough so they couldn't see her escape from Benson Electronics. The first guard asked, "Where'd she go?"

The answer was - that she had climbed her way towards the top of the roof, where Robin, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg were on the roof, having been alerted to the break-in.

Robin was on his T-communicator, talking with Raven, who was saying to the leader of the Titans, "I'm working a Slade lead on the other side of town. Sure you guys can handle this without me?"

Robin responded to the gray-skinned Titan, "No problem."

A second later, the thief that stole the microchip came onto the rooftops, with the chip securely in a bag on her belt. Robin pulled out two bird-a-rangs at the thief while Cyborg aimed his sonic cannon at the thief. Starfire was preparing starbolts to use against her while Beast Boy had turned into a lion.

Robin asked, "You work for Slade tough guy?"

The thief answered in a distorted voice that sounded like Judi Dench mixed with computer talk, "X works alone."

With that X raised her palms towards the Titans, firing two X's towards the Titans. Cyborg destroys one of them with his sonic cannon and Robin takes out the other with a bird-a-rang.

Robin shouted, "Titans go" and charged right at X, but before he could speak another command, X fired a sticky X at his mouth, preventing him from coordinating the other Titans.

Starfire soon got into the air and began to hammer starbolts towards X, who elusively dodged each one before sending an X her way that soon binded her arms to her body and sent her plummeting back onto the roof of Benson Electronics.

Beast Boy charged at X as a lion, hoping to slash the thief to shreds, but X merely fired an X that soon turned into a sticky liquid that trapped Beast Boy in a net, and none of his animal forms were able to break through it.

Cyborg ran right at X, firing his sonic cannon towards him but missing her. He aimed a punch at her that she just side-stepped and soon was on Cyborg's back, which she opened to expose his circuitry.

She moved a lot of wires around, causing all sorts of problems to happen with Cyborg, who screamed, "Yo, who told you how to shut me down?" Not a lot of people knew how to do that, which could limit the possibilities of who is X, or who supplied her.

After he speaks, X just pushed him down onto the ground. Having bested the four Titans, she leaped from the roof and vanished.

Beast Boy, now a human in X's trap, asked "So, do you guys see what I didn't see?"

Cyborg responds, "Who was that guy?"

* * *

Meanwhile, in an abandoned warehouse, X was typing on a computer monitor, intending on contacting her buyer for the "Red Salamander" microchip. A few moments later, Slade came onto the screen.

X said, "Rumor has it, you're interested in this."

Slade responded, "I'm interested in many things, Miss..."

X added, "X. Just X."

"Hmm, catchy. So are you proposing a sale or a gift?" Slade knew how to push people's buttons and he certainly intended to do so with X.

"A partnership. I give you the chip, you cut me in on your plans."

"Partnership. My, my, we are ambitious. But an alliance cannot be forged from one small chip. If you're going to win my trust, I'm going to require more."

"Just tell me what you want."

* * *

August 15, 2015. The Titans were recovering from their fight against X, who managed to take all of them down, sans Raven (who was absent at the time pursuing a Slade lead).

Raven came into the main ops room, where Starfire was clipping away at the liquid that was in Beast Boy's hair while Cyborg was fixing himself up to make sure he is still in working order.

She said, "I had no idea X would pose such a threat. I should've been there."

Beast Boy commented, "You bet you should've been there. Look what she did to my 'do. I'm looking at two months of bad hair days."

Robin on the other hand was still trying to get the X gag off of his mouth, and it certainly was more resistant than most bindings. The changeling commented, "I don't know, Robin. That's kind of a good look for you." Robin was obviously red with anger.

Cyborg, after finishing up, went over to Robin and said, "Hold still."

He ripped the X gag off of Robin's mouth, which clearly hurt, resulting in two other Robin faces coming in beside him and screaming before vanishing. Robin had an obvious burn line because of the X. He said, "Ow. Even if you had been there, it wouldn't have made any difference."

Cyborg said, "Girl knew how to bring each one of us down. I guarantee she had a gadget with your name on it."

Starfire added, "Agreed. You need not feel guilt. We are undamaged."

Beast Boy pointed out his hair with a "Hel-lo?"

The alien meekly added, "Mostly undamaged. And we are all eager to learn what you discovered about Slade."

Raven depressingly notes, "Nothing. Lead was a dead end. I should get back to work."

She then left the main ops room, leaving the Titans to their business.

* * *

Later that night, with Robin's face and Beast Boy's hair back to normal, they were urgently called into the main ops room for a message. However, when they got there, there was nobody there.

Robin said to the empty room, "Okay, what the hell is going on?"

Starfire inquisitively asked, "Raven?"

Beast Boy commented, "You mean Colonel Research? Ah, she's probably filling out note cards at the public library." He yawned after that last comment.

Suddenly, Raven came onto the screen, saying, "I was. But then I spotted X pulling a robbery in the tech sector. I'm on it. Get here as soon as you can."

Beast Boy said, "You got it, we'll be there any..." before falling asleep.

Cyborg dragged the sleeping changeling out of the main ops room as Robin and Starfire followed, hoping to catch X.

* * *

The Titans arrived in the tech sector of Jump City, trying to find X. Cyborg shouts, "There!" and the four Titans quickly go in pursuit of X, who has already completed her latest robbery - stealing a blue microchip known as "Blue Legume" from Waxel Mechanics.

The "Blue Legume" was a prototype microchip designed to work in compatability with the "Red Salamander", being able to filter code lines to find the proper code in seconds, which can enable the user to modify the code to their own specifications. This is definitely not good if Slade wants his hands on it, and if X is getting it.

The Titans followed X into the train station, hoping to find the thief. Cyborg adjusted his optics to see X even if he is invisible, but moments later, X shows up and sends Cyborg right into a wall at the station.

Robin said, "It's her. Titans go!"

So, the three Titans went into action, trying to take down X. Robin pulled out his bo-staff and went to battle with X, with each blow he sent towards X being blocked away and soon X kicked the bo-staff out of Robin's hands before throwing him over her shoulders and into the stairs.

X was soon greeted with a surprise starbolt to the chest that sent her flying to the other side of the station. Starfire demanded, "Surrender! We do not wish to fight you."

X responded, "Sorry, I'm not done with you yet."

With that, X jumps back and throws an X at her, which she is able to dodge as it just hits the wall. X, however, is able to quickly resume the fight and strikes her in the chest.

After that, a green bighorn sheep rams right into X in the back, avenging Starfire. X then kicks Beast Boy away, causing him to fall onto the tracks. And it just so happens that the train is coming.

X quickly grabbed Beast Boy, now a human, and threw him onto the other side of the station as the train passed. X may be a thief, but she definitely is not a killer.

Beast Boy, confused, asked X, "Dude! Did you just save me?"

X chose not to answer and instead put a knee right in Beast Boy's abdomen, causing him to kneel over in pain before moving away.

Before she could get too far away, she found herself impacted by a wall of black energy - Raven's black energy. X jumped away before she could be impacted into a wall.

Raven drawled, "You're not getting away that easily."

X replied, "I can handle all of your friends. Let's see what I can do to you."

X pulled out two X seis and went at Raven, who blocked each of X's lunges with a small shield of black energy before kicking each sei out of her hands.

Disarmed, X dropped a smoke grenade that quickly got into Raven's eyes before vanishing. Raven caught sight of X through the smoke and quickly resumed her pursuit.

With the train now gone, the other three Titans were able to go to Beast Boy, still dealing with the pain.

Starfire asked, "Beast Boy, you are undamaged?"

Beast Boy replied, "In pain, but otherwise fine. Who was that girl?"

* * *

X returned to her base with the "Blue Legume" microchip and then began her video conference with Slade.

Slade greeted X with, "Impressive, Miss X. I tapped into the security cameras to watch your performance. You treated the Titans to quite a show."

X replied, "Glad you enjoyed it" as he put the two stolen microchips onto the screen - the "Red Salamander" and the "Blue Legume".

X continued, "Is the audition over?"

Slade responded, "Patience. Trust is easy to destroy, but it takes time to build. One last test. The 'Green Anaconda' microchip from Benson Electronics. Prove yourself and we will meet to discuss your future.

X replied, "Good." The feed was cut, leaving X alone in her base. She then took off her mask, revealing unusually violet hair and a gray skin tone, and an unusual gray top piece that went around the top of her head.

Raven said to herself, "It's about time we met face to face."

* * *

August 16, 2015. The Titans were trying to figure out what X's next target was going to be. They knew thefts frequently occurred in threes, so they had little reason to assume that X was going to quit after just two heists. They still had yet to figure out that these thefts were being committed by one of their own.

Robin was typing at the computer, having put Benson Electronics and Waxel Mechanics as X's first two targets to see what places could be targeted that night. Robin said, "Okay, that's where X has been. Now we just have to figure out where he's going to strike next."

With those two targets down, many more places popped up on the grid of where in Jump City X could strike. Beast Boy sighed, "Great."

Raven soon came into the main ops room, holding a box that presumably held more material on Slade. Starfire screeched, "Raven! How wonderful! Our efforts to locate the thief X will benefit greatly from your help!" Too bad that Raven was X.

Raven turned her down with, "It'll have to wait. I'm close to a breakthrough with Slade." She was right about that, if she succeeded in her heist, she would be in his circle. Or, at least, that's what she thought.

Starfire then added, "More wonderful! Perhaps we could be of assistance to..."

Before she could finish, Raven had already left the room. "...you."

Beast Boy commented, "Let her go. Not like she's been much help lately. If Raven wasn't always AWOL, X would be knocked out by now."

Cyborg noted, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Beast Boy's right."

Robin added, "You all think that Raven is losing her grip?"

Starfire exclaimed, "No! The grip of Raven is not lost! She works harder than any of you. She works to catch Slade before something terrible happens! She works to save us all." Unfortunately for her, only some of that is true. Question of the day for the Titans is - which part is true?

* * *

About an hour or so later, Beast Boy went up to Raven's room in an attempt to maybe get her to help them locate X and get her out of her Slade obsession.

Beast Boy knocked on the door but the door soon opened, revealing the inhabitant of the room to be MIA.

Beast Boy walked inside and looked at her room, filled with tons of boxes filled with files and documents on their one-eyed madman and her walls loaded with newspaper clippings about Slade.

As he looked inside her room, Beast Boy thought about what Raven had said, _"Who's Slade? Lead was a dead end. I'm close to a breakthrough. Sure you guys can handle this without me?"_

A second later, he saw what appeared to be a white manual hiding beneath her bed - this was not anything like the other books on her bookshelf, so he decided to take it out and look at it.

He quickly saw the title to be Robot Mechanics and Repair. Raven didn't work on robots, at least not that they knew of. Unless...No. That couldn't be true. She wasn't a traitor.

He went over towards a chest in the rear corner of her room, silently muttering to himself, "Raven, where have you gone?"

He opened the chest and saw clipped cloth, as if it had been cut to make an outfit. Beast Boy looked and felt at the material, and knew what it was. It was the exact same material as X's suit, which covered her entire body.

Things were starting to turn into place for Beast Boy - things that disturbed him greatly.

* * *

That night, X (or Raven, rather) stormed Benson Electronics to retrieve the "Green Anaconda" chip for Slade, which would prove herself to him and get her inside his circle, close enough to take him down. The "Green Anaconda" worked in compatability with the "Red Salamander", enabling it to retrieve the data inserted into the "Red Salamander" and plug it into anything. This was not good news if Slade got his hands on it.

Raven got into Benson without any hitch and grabbed the "Green Anaconda" microchip from its protective housing. The second afterwards, Slade came into view, saying "Excellent work. Honestly, I couldn't have done better myself."

Raven stored away the third microchip with the other two she had stolen and responded to Slade (while disguised as X), "So, do we have a deal?"

Slade responded to her, "Indeed. You and I are so very much alike. It seems only natural that we should be partners." Raven and Slade, so much alike? That thought had barely crossed Raven's mind - she was nothing like the mastermind. Hell, she wasn't anything like her own father.

Raven pulled out the chips and showed them to Slade. She asked, "What are they for? I need to know what we're planning...partner."

Slade then said, "Patience. You can't expect me to trust you with such sensitive information right away, can you...Raven?" It was official, Slade knew that Raven was X, probably for the entire time.

The lights in the room popped up and Slade's robots soon surrounded her. One of the robots fired a net that quickly snatched the three microchips away from Raven and put them into Slade's hand.

The robots soon advance on her and Raven soon shouts, "Azarath metrion zinthos", still in X's voice and blasts away the other robots, soon running right towards Slade, who was getting away with the three microchips.

Before either of them could get too far, they were rumbled by a massive explosion that signaled the arrival of the other Titans. Starfire quickly zoomed in and tackled X, grabbing her by the legs.

Robin said, "Gotcha."

Raven was screaming, still wearing the X mask, but now Cyborg was gripping her arms so she couldn't take it off, "Let's go! Stop him!"

Beast Boy then said, "No! Release her! X is..."

Raven slammed her head into the floor, enabling her to remove the mask, and finished, "...me." The Titans were obviously aghast that Raven was X, but in their moment of distraction, Raven was able to escape and pursued Slade onto a nearby rooftop, having only ditched her mask and metal gray top, leaving her in her jumpsuit, gloves, and boots.

Raven sent a small burst of black energy towards the criminal mastermind, but he simply dodged it with ease. He continued to run as Raven followed him, floating from rooftop to rooftop in an attempt to take him down, finally intercepting him on a nearby building with a giant glowing red billboard.

Slade mocked, "Careful, I wouldn't want you getting hurt."

Raven countered, "I'm not the one who's going to get hurt. Now hand them over."

"I thought we had a deal Raven."

"Sorry, I have a strict rule against giving stolen technology to psychos!"

"How very noble of you. But stealing in order to trap me. That wasn't so noble. Two wrongs don't make a..."

"Don't ever lecture me, Slade! Whatever you're planning, it's over!"

"Oh, on the contrary, Raven. It has just begun."

Raven charged at Slade, sending two fists of black energy his way. The first one hit him, sending him slightly backwards, but he dodged the second and soon decreased the distance between himself and Raven.

He delivered a powerful kick that sent her flying backwards into a nearby wall. She got up and immediately went back onto the offensive, using her black energy to grab Slade's leg and twist him away.

However, that did not stop Slade as he charged right back to Raven, dodging the black energy she sent his way and soon grabbed her by the arms, cutting her off from her powers at the moment.

He sent her way a powerful kick to the chest and two punches to the head that knocked her onto the ground. He walked towards her, but Raven responded with a quick kick that sent him back a step or two.

Slade charged at her again with a lot more force, aiming a lot of punches at her that Raven was barely able to block before Slade delivered a strong elbow to her chest that sent her stumbling backwards off of the rooftop, now holding on for dear life on a crumbling ledge.

The ledge soon fell apart, but before the dazed Raven could fall off the building, Slade grabbed her wrist with a bit of pressure. Confused, she asked, "You saved me?"

Slade's cold reply was, "I'm not through with you."

He threw her onto one of the support beams of the billboard and soon charged right at her. She ducked to dodge Slade's punch and then responded with a punch of her own, sending him stumbling backwards and losing the chips.

Raven quickly grabbed the net containing the microchips and yelled, "This ends now!", preparing to unmask Slade, to see who he really is. She was immediately infuriated when she saw that the Slade she just fought was not the real one - but a mere robot.

The real Slade, still at his base, spoke to Raven through the monitor in the robot's head, "Patience, Raven. We'll meet face to face some other time, and speaking of time..."

The monitor soon changed from Slade's face to a timer, which obviously was set to trigger a self-destruct mechanism. Raven grabbed the three microchips and quickly moved away from the beeping robot, putting up a black shield as the robot exploded.

From the opposite rooftop, Beast Boy comments, "At least he didn't get the chips."

* * *

August 17, 2015. Raven was in her room, holing up there ever since the Titans learned the truth. Her mission as X was a total failure - her friends no longer trusted her and Slade saw through her disguise.

Cyborg knocked on her door and came in, seeing that Raven was laying on her bed, staring completely at the Slade mask she retrieved from the robot. Cyborg yelled at Raven, "Why the hell did you do that, Raven?"

Raven responded, "I needed to get inside. I needed to gain his trust so I could bring him down. But he saw right through me."

Cyborg asked, "How did you even do it?"

"I used a warehouse in the city that I was staying in before I met you guys. I designed the X suit and the weapons to take you guys down without causing too much damage. The suit was powered by my own black energy through that device on my head, so only I could use it."

"But how did you manage to fight X in the station?"

Raven pulled out the robotics manual Beast Boy found underneath her bed. "I switched myself with a robot that I programmed to follow certain moves. The Raven you saw was me but X was the robot."

"Why couldn't we see you doing it here? Why did the cameras not catch you building the X suit?"

"I used the warehouse because I didn't want you guys to know, nor did I want Slade to know. He said to me at Benson that he knew that I meditated, and that means he's got eyes on the Tower. He's watching us right now. If I did it here, my mission would be rendered moot before it even began. And look where it ended up."

Cyborg soon left the room, and within the next hour, Robin and Starfire both came into Raven's room demanding answers as to why she did what she did. Raven considered herself lucky that Robin let her stay on the team, not kicking her off or arresting her.

Later, Beast Boy came in to deal with his beef with Raven. She solemnly asked, "You want to yell at me too? Everyone else has, and I don't blame them."

Beast Boy said, "I don't want to yell. I want to understand. Raven, why didn't you tell us the truth?"

She responded, "I needed to fool Slade. If you guys knew that I was X, you would have held back, and Slade would have realized it. But it doesn't matter anyway. Slade figured it out, and I still haven't figured out anything about him."

Beast Boy commented, "That's not true. Whoever Slade is, you two are very similar. Slade didn't trust you and you didn't trust us." Beast Boy left Raven in her room, thinking about his last words. Slade and Beast Boy were right - she and Slade were both very much alike.

* * *

A few hours later, while the Titans went out to a nearby carnival, which Raven predictably passed on, Raven went outside with the X materials.

She grabbed the suit, the mask, the power converter (which enabled her to power the X suit), all of the blueprints, the robot used in the subway, the few remaining weapons from the suit, and the programmer. After throwing them into a massive pile, Raven picked up a container filled with liquid gunpowder and poured it all over the material.

She tossed the container into the pile and pulled out a match book. She pulled out a match and struck it before tossing it into the pile, sending all of the X materials into a pile of flames. She was not going to let anybody have the X suit or the designs, not Slade, not Robin, nobody. It was better for everybody this way, and Raven could only hope that this helped mend the fences between herself and the team.

Meanwhile, from his base, Slade commented, "My dear, it truly has begun. And soon, you will be mine."


	8. Apprentice: Part I

**Author's Notes**

To jovanchin2013, Raven is definitely the most powerful of the Titans, and as X, she was actually holding back - she is much more powerful without the suit. Slade is definitely going to capitalize on that, and Raven's absence will be a major hit to the Titans. I gagged Robin because he could give commands to the Titans, and without him, the team would fall apart (well, excluding Raven). There may be at least one more BBRae moment in the story, but who knows when? I chose the way of powering the suit because Raven isn't stupid - she may be uncaring about science, but she knows quite a bit about it, thanks to Wisdom.

To Iskandar06, I don't recall saying I'd rewrite all the chapters, actually.

To guest, I stand by the match book - they do exist and are much smaller than match boxes, maybe holding like a dozen matches and are quick to access. Raven is becoming Robin because in this alternate scenario, Slade is trying to recruit Raven as his apprentice and she is trying to bring Slade down.

To Darkwarrior1010, thanks for the review, and some people do say that you can never have enough of something too good.

To everlostneverfound, because of the alternate scenario, a lot of things have changed from the original _Teen Titans _universe, as well as the _Betrayed, Cast Off, Angry_ universe. Since our focus is on Raven instead of Robin, it seemed more logical to have Beast Boy uncover the truth about who X is than Starfire. Raven was taking a risk with the suit in her ploy, but she did play things safe by making sure only she could use it (like I said with jovanchin2013, Raven isn't stupid when it comes to robotics and science). Raven had her melee abilities, but they weren't excellent like with Robin or Cyborg - this will be important for this chapter and some of the next few. When Slade gets Raven, the Titans will have a much harder fight up ahead than they could have possibly imagined.

To LordMesirix, Raven didn't want to risk anybody using the suit against the Titans after its failure, so she destroyed everything related to it - the original suit and all of the designs. So, the events of X won't happen, and Grant (Slade's son) won't get the X suit, and besides it wouldn't fit him.

To Angel of Azarath, you are correct in this being _Apprentice_.

**Attention readers, we are officially at the part of the story you all have been waiting for - the reinterpretation of ****_Apprentice Part I_****.**

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

September 21, 2015. Raven was currently levitating over the ground, chasing after the criminal mastermind known simply as Slade. Slade was managing to elude Raven, passing over and under rock structures and soon arrived at a narrow path that led to a peninsula with four large structures.

Instead of taking the path, however, Slade jumped the way from his position on the high mesa over to the peninsula. Raven simply levitated in pursuit, heading right towards the one-eyed villain.

Slade commented, "Dangerous behavior, Raven. You must be eager to see me. I'm flattered."

Raven growled, "I'm not here to see you. I'm here to stop you." Soon Slade and Raven were moving in a circle, readying to pounce on the other.

Slade questioned, "Hmm, but how can you stop me when you don't even know what I'm planning?"

Raven smirked, "Like this."

With that, Raven sent a fist of black energy Slade's way, which he dodged. Slade ran towards Raven and delivered two punches to her head, sending her backwards.

Slade charged back at Raven but she floated into the air and delivered a two-legged kick that knocked Slade into one of the rock formations, causing some of the rock to chip away.

Slade pushed back towards Raven, aiming several punches at her chest, impacting several times but Raven quickly grabbed Slade's arm and ensnared him in black energy that soon struck another rock formation.

Raven flew towards Slade, readying another attack against him, but Slade jumped up and grabbed Raven by the arms and threw her over towards the edge of the peninsula, leaving her dangling much like on the rooftops while she was dressed as X.

She quickly got up and continued her fight with Slade. He threw a punch at her which she blocked and then responded with a kick to his face that sent him stumbling into another rock formation.

Raven, now fueled by rage (which was not a good sign for any sane man), surrounded Slade with black energy and hammered him completely into the last rock formation.

She went back towards Slade, who went back at her, soon delivering a side kick aimed right at her, but she ducked and soon delivered a kick of her own that sent Slade careening into the first rock sculpture.

This was about all the sculpture could take as it soon toppled over and completely landed on the formation next to it, which in turn caused that formation to crumble onto the formation in front of it, and that resulted in the fourth formation being taken down by the fallen third.

A large cloud of dust soon emerged and Slade vanished into it, but Raven could still hear his mocking voice. He said, "Excellent, Raven. We appear to be equally matched, and equally ruthless. Not surprising, though. You and I are so much alike."

Raven was enraged by that last comment, so when Slade came back into her line of sight, Raven pounced on him and tackled him onto the ground near the first fallen rock formation.

She shouted, "I'm nothing like you! You're a criminal! A psychopath! All you care about is destruction!"

Slade slyly added, "And all you care about, you destroy."

Raven soon realized what Slade meant - she really should have looked at the rock sculptures beforehand, and now she knew what they were.

Looking right next to her was the fallen Beast Boy, his sculpture completely broken apart. She further turned and saw the crumbled sculptures of Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire. That is what Slade meant - she would get rid of her friends if it meant taking down Slade.

Raven cried out, "No! Who are you?"

Raven ripped off Slade's mask and was equally disturbed by what she saw beneath the mask. Once she ripped off the mask, "Slade" took a more feminine build as Raven saw that the face under the mask was her own, with those damned four crimson eyes.

"Slade" laughed in a maniacal tone to the shocked and disturbed Raven, which caused Raven to wake up in her room. The whole thing was a nightmare, a damn disturbing one at that. Was Slade right? Were he and Raven the same? Would she truly do anything to stop him?

Raven noticed that her face was sweating and she quickly got out of bed, which was covered with Slade files. Guess those caused the bad dream. She put on her cloak as Robin came in with another scary announcement - "It's him. It's Slade."

* * *

Raven rushed into the main ops room where the other Titans were already present, and Slade was on the main screen, like he had something to say. And indeed, he did have something to say. From the background, it looked like Slade was in some industrial district.

Slade greeted the Titans, "Good morning Teen Titans. I do hope I didn't wake you." Slade actually cared if they were fully awake - how un-Slade-ish(?), or was it?

Beast Boy complained, "What are you, an insomniac? Who calls at five in the morning..." Before he could continue, Robin elbowed him in the head to shut him up.

Raven demanded, "What do you want?"

Slade answered, "Well, that's precisely what you have been trying to figure out for the past few months, isn't it? And in spite of all of your efforts, you are still in the dark about my intentions. Disappointing, Raven. I expected a lot more from you."

Raven growled, "Like I care what you..."

Slade cut her off with, "But since you've been unable to discover my plan, I suppose I'll just have to reveal it myself. I'm sure you're all familiar with the concept of a Chronoton Detonator."

Behind him, two of his Slade-bots revealed the detonator to the five Titans.

Cyborg shouted, "No!" Starfire shrieked. Robin muttered, "Oh no!" Beast Boy exclaimed, "No way. Um, what's a crouton detonator?" Predictably, Beast Boy wasn't intelligent enough to know what Slade's contraption was.

Starfire answered, "It eradicates all chronotons within a localized area, utterly destroying the temporal component of the space-time continuum."

A large question mark appeared on Beast Boy's head as he moaned, "Uhh?"

Robin simplified, "It stops time. Permanently."

Beast Boy collapsed onto the floor, fainting after learning the truth.

Cyborg added, "If he triggers that thing downtown, it'll freeze frame the entire city."

Raven said, "No wonder he was after the microchips. They were part of the detonator's design."

Slade noted, "And I do owe you a thank you Raven for giving me the chips. Do you really think you got away with the real ones? No, I switched them before our little rooftop battle."

Raven was getting increasingly aggravated, and it showed as the Tower's toaster oven suddenly exploded behind them.

Raven snarled, "Tell me where!"

Slade challenged, "You're a clever girl, Raven. I'm sure you and your little friends can figure it out. However, since I control the detonation, time...is not on your side", as he pulled out the trigger to the detonator.

Slade cut the feed, leaving nothing but static on the screen, aggravating Raven even more. Now, on the Titans to-do list was (1) find the detonator, (2) stop it and Slade, and (3) get a new toaster.

Raven shouted, "Fan out! Find it! Shut it down!"

Before she could move out to look for the detonator, Cyborg and Starfire grabbed Raven by the arms, preventing her from phasing away.

Beast Boy noted, "Umm, hey, maybe you should stay here and coordinate the search."

Raven screeched, "WHAT?"

Cyborg added, "Girl, when it comes to Slade, you've got issues." He then twirled his index finger around his head, indicating that Raven is cuckoo. He continued, "Might be better for the team if you sit this one out."

Raven growled, "No. You need me in the search. There's too much at stake for me to..."

Starfire cut her off with, "Raven, we have not forgotten the last time you faced..."

Raven cut her off with, "I made a mistake, Starfire. It won't happen again. I can handle it. I promise."

Robin then added, while nobody was looking at him, all focused on preventing Raven from going beserk, "Would you at least like to know where to look?" He knew where the detonator was?

Robin pulled up the footage of Slade's threat and continued, "Slade gave us more information than he realized. Here, in the reflection."

Robin did some typing on the computer to reveal a small blurry image on the image. Beast Boy joked, "Ooh, squiggly lines. Way informative."

Ignoring the changeling with the below-average IQ, Robin did more typing to refine the image, revealing what the lines said. PIER 41.

Starfire exclaimed, "Pier Forty-One."

Raven noted, "The docks."

* * *

The Titans quickly made their way over to Pier 41, searching for Slade and the Chroniton Detonator before he froze time in Jump City forever. It was pretty close to sunrise in the city, and once the Titans arrived at the warehouse - they were utterly disappointed.

Slade wasn't there. Nor was the detonator, nor was anybody for that matter. It was completely empty. Slade fooled them.

Starfired inquired, "Empty?"

Cyborg exclaimed, "Oh man."

Raven growled, "I don't believe this."

A second later, they unfortunately realized that they were not so alone, as hundreds of Slade-bots quickly surrounded the five Titans.

A despondent Beast Boy asked, "Great. What do we do now?"

Robin responded, "We fight. Titans go!"

With that, the Titans went forth to engage the Slade-bots. In mere seconds, Raven cut down all of the Slade-bots she was engaging with two whips of black energy. However, she still had a lot of pent-up anger to dish out.

Cyborg meanwhile was preparing to deliver some powerful blasts of his sonic cannon at the Slade-bots. Before he could however, Raven jumped right in and sliced all of them into little more than scrap.

Cyborg desponded, "Hey! I was gonna do that!"

Robin was preparing to throw some bird-a-rangs to cut down the Slade-bots he was facing. Unfortunately for him, Raven came in and blew massive holes inside of them, causing them to fall down, deactivated. He was a bit nervous but he maintained his composure as he looked around.

Starfire was preparing a strafing run of starbolts to take down the Slade-bots, but like with the others, was cut off by Raven whose black energy caused their parts to all explode.

The Slade-bots were dog-piling on Beast Boy, dramatically outnumbering him, but he turned into a bull to buck them all off. He snorted before preparing to go after the rest. Like with the other Titans, though, Raven came and smashed them all into one massive pile.

Beast Boy turned back into a human and then fled over to the wall where Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire were as well, trying to avoid the destructive Raven, cowering like infants, as she ruthlessly destroyed all of Slade's robots.

The other Titans returned to their normal size as they saw Raven using her black energy to shred up a Slade-bot's skull. Cyborg joked, "Uh, Raven? I think you got him."

However, Raven continued her assault on the dead robot. Starfire brought her arms onto Raven, saying, "Yes, please. You may stop now. We are victorious."

Raven growled, "Slade's got his finger on the button, and we've got nothing! Does that sound like a victory to you?" The Titans were concerned by her yelling, especially after it caused all of the glass nearby to spontaneously explode.

Raven furiously left the warehouse as the other Titans cautiously followed. Cyborg said, "Okay, we know that the chronoton detonator was here. Now we just have to figure out where it went." Raven might have been able to use her empathy, but Slade was very emotionless, rendering that possibility useless.

Beast Boy suggested, "No problem, we should split up and..."

Robin cut him off with a pessimistic, "...waste hours searching only to come up empty-handed?"

"Well, when you say it like that."

Starfire added, "Robin is right. We must find some way to track the device."

Raven soon sensed somebody was coming, a simple dock worker who was about to start his day. He was soon enveloped with black energy and squeezed against a wall, with Raven pressing harshly into him. She yelled, "Tell me everything you know about this", as she pulled out a disk with Slade's insignia on it.

She continued, after failing to get an answer, "Answer me! Now!"

The man meekly answered, "I've never seen it before! I don't know anything! Honest! Please!"

Before she could viciously ask again, Robin surrounded Raven with his grappling gun and pulled her over towards them with Cyborg and Starfire grabbing hold of her arms.

Robin said, "You said you could handle it."

Starfire continued, "You promised."

Raven, after phasing out of the grappling line, said, "We're wasting time."

Beast Boy called after Raven, "You know just because we're trying to catch Slade doesn't mean you have to act like him." Wrong thing to say Beast Boy. If there is one thing that Raven hates right now, it is being compared to Slade.

Raven turned around and Beast Boy was soon being telepathically choked. She growled, with four red eyes, "Don't you ever compare me to him! He's trying to destroy the city! I'm trying to save it."

A second later, Beast Boy was released as Raven's eyes returned to normal. An awkward silence followed for the next few moments until Starfire began to get the sniffles and sneezed. This was not a normal sneeze as it unleashed a massive starbolt that almost disinegrated all of the Titans.

Robin said, "God bless you."

Starfire said, "Forgive me. I am allergic to metallic chromium. There must be a source near..."

Starfire sniffled before she could finish that statement and was about to sneeze again. The other Titans quickly took for cover as she sneezed again, this time, creating a miniature mushroom cloud.

Cyborg took out his scanners and did a little look at them. He noted, "Interesting."

Starfire sniffled again and commented, "Not really. On my world, chromium allergies are quite common."

Cyborg continued, "No. The key component of a chronoton detonator is a metallic chromium core, which means..."

Beast Boy finished, "...Starfire can track it."

* * *

The Titans quickly followed Starfire as her explosive sneezes led them on their way towards Slade's chronoton detonator, hopefully before Slade froze time in Jump City.

This search soon led them into the sewers, with Starfire leading followed by Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Robin, with Raven in back.

After another explosive sneeze, a congested Starfire said, "I believe it is this way."

Raven, attempting an apology about her, rash actions earlier, said, "Look guys, about earlier..."

Before she could finish, Robin cut her off with, "It'll have to wait."

Robin pointed ahead, revealing a speedboat with a Slade-bot on it, and the chronoton detonator. He continued, "Titans, go" as they rushed towards the speedboat.

Raven, however, did not join them as Cinderblock grabbed her and plucked her away from the Titans. She assured the Titans, "Quick! We can't let them get away."

Beast Boy concerningly stated, "Raven."

Raven yelled out, "Get the detonator! Go!"

Cyborg told him, "Beast Boy, you heard her. Get moving!"

Cinderblock smashed Raven onto the ground, who said to him, "You want a rematch, huh? Well only fair to warn you that you caught me on a bad day!"

Raven used some of her black energy to push Cinderblock off of her before bashing him into the walls, hitting him heavily and not letting up. After doing her share of damage, Raven drops Cinderblock onto the ground, now bound up in several stone columns. She screams, "Where is he? Where...? Huh?"

Raven was alerted to a loud beeping nearby. She used her exceptional hearing to find that it was on Cinderblock's side, and grabbed the item, revealing a tracking device with two points, one rapidly moving dot that signaled the detonator, and the other was Slade's logo. Raven gave a menacing smile, now knowing where to find Slade.

* * *

The other four Titans began their pursuit of the speedboat containing the detonator, which quickly took off, resulting in Beast Boy, as a pterodactyl, carrying Cyborg while Starfire supported Robin.

The Slade-bot pressed a button on the speedboat that caused the computer to say, "Defense mode activated."

Two laser cannons emerge on the rear of the boat and begin to fire on the four Titans, forcing them to swerve back and forth to avoid the blasts.

Cyborg exclaimed, "I will not be having attitude from a boat" as he pulled out his sonic cannon to begin firing on the guns firing on the Titans.

Little did they realize, Slade was watching them from his lair, very intently. He joked to himself, "Hurry young Titans. Your time is running out."

The next second, his door exploded off its hinges, revealing a very pissed-off Raven, hands glowing with black energy, ready to strike at Slade. She cried out, "Actually, we just went into overtime."

Slade, still incredibly calm, as if he was actually expecting her to find him, stated, "Raven. I've been expecting you for some time." It's official, he was waiting for her. What villain waits for the person trying to stop them? He continued, "I was wondering if Cinderblock was too much of a challenge." He actually wanted her to find him, and it turned out Cinderblock was too _little_ of a challenge for Raven, as she kicked his ass and got a way to find Slade.

He turned around to face Raven, revealing the trigger to the chronoton detonator, and continued, "Looking for this? Well, here it is."

A second later, the trigger went out of Slade's hands and into some sort of vault that revealed its contents quite proudly. It wasn't very secure for that matter, so that made it more of a trophy stand. At least it made sure Slade could access it easily.

"If you want it, come and take it."

Raven immediately went for Slade, aiming to knock him out before stopping the detonator. As she charged for Slade, the one-eyed mastermind charged right back at her.

* * *

Back with the Titans' chase of the speedboat, Robin and Cyborg were both trying to take out the boat's two cannons before it took them out. It was forcing them to swerve around as they frantically tried to intercept the detonator.

Cyborg sent a blast of his sonic cannon right at one of the laser cannons, immediately knocking it out of commission. Robin took out the second cannon with a well-aimed bird-a-rang.

With the guns down, Cyborg and Robin landed on the speedboat. Robin said, "Thanks for the lift."

The Slade-bot immediately pressed a button on the dash of the speedboat that caused the computer to say, "Autopilot engaged." With that, the boat began to move on its own, enabling the Slade-bot to begin combat with the two Titans.

The Slade-bot charged at the Titans but Robin did a jump and back-kicked the Slade-bot off of the boat. Cyborg rushed up to the controls in an attempt to stop the boat. They did not want it to get anywhere near a central area, or the damage to the city's time flow would be catastrophic.

Cyborg tried to correct the boat by grabbing hold of the steering wheel to manually control it. All that did was split the wheel from its position, making it officially impossible to steer the boat, sending the two Titans on a wild ride while Starfire and Beast Boy continued their pursuit of the speedboat.

The boat quickly made it a bumpy ride for the two Titans on board, forcing Cyborg to try to find the code to stop the auto-pilot. He repeatedly pressed down buttons in his rush, but all that did was cause the computer to say, "Invalid code."

As this continued their wild ride and caused the two Titans to scream, Robin yelled out, "How do we stop this thing?"

Cyborg came up with an idea and immediately ripped the entire control panel off and threw it aside. With that _unconventional_ move, the speedboat finally stopped in the middle of a massive chamber with many possible exits.

With the boat stopped, Starfire and Beast Boy (now a falcon), landed on the boat and Beast Boy turned back into a human. The changeling commented, "Please tell me that's not how you're planning on stopping the detonator."

Cyborg stutters, "Uh..."

Robin interrupts, "You do know how to stop it, don't you?"

Cyborg continues, "How hard could it be?"

He had to say that, as when he opened up the detonator to see how to stop it - and there appeared to be miles of wires and buttons inside such the device. It was incredibly complicated. Cyborg was WAY over his head now.

"Oh."

Starfire added, "Whatever we are going to do, we should do it before Slade decides to trigger this thing."

With that, Cyborg went to work on defusing the chronoton detonator.

* * *

Back in Slade's lair, the fight between Raven and Slade had since begun. Raven went for the trigger, trying to get it away from Slade, but Slade sent a flying kick that knocked her away from it. From trying before, Raven learned that the trigger was encased in a housing that prevented her black energy from penetrating it. That was the purpose of the vault Slade used in this case - to force Raven to come to it.

Raven landed as Slade went back at her, taunting, "Come now, Raven. You'll have to do better than that. I haven't even broken a sweat."

Slade charged back at Raven, preparing a spinning kick that was blocked with black energy. Raven responded by pushing Slade far away from her, giving her more room to get the trigger.

Slade was much faster than Raven expected, and no matter how fast she went, Slade beat her to the trigger, performing a roundhouse kick that sent Raven flying away from the trigger.

She got back up only to soon find herself beneath Slade's boot, slowly crushing her. Raven exploded with black energy, blasting Slade off of her. Now much angrier than before, she went back at Slade, sending a black energy-fueled fist at him. He commented, "Good technique" before dodging the fist and then catching it, delivering two agonizing punches to Raven's midsection before tossing her away. He continued, "Good, but not perfect."

Raven charged back at Slade, supported by two gears encased in black energy that she soon tossed directly at the one-eyed madman. Slade dodged the first before jumping right onto the second and using it as a springboard to kick Raven into the ground, causing her to growl at him. Slade noted, "Excellent strategy, Raven."

Raven growled, "Do you have to be my coach right about now?" Raven was right, did he?

Slade responded, "This may serve you better in the future, my dear" as he went back at Raven. Yep, he did have to be commenting about her performance, at least in his eye.

Raven sent one of the sent gears right back at Slade, impacting him in the back and knocking him down. Raven ducked as the gear flew right by her and soon landed.

That did not stop Slade, not one bit. He got back up with ease and went right at Raven, forcefully grabbing her by the arms and delivering one punishing punch to her head.

* * *

Back with the Titans, who were defusing the detonator, Robin unscrewed the compartment housing the metallic chromium core, which appeared a massive red ball.

Cyborg whispered, "The chromium core. Very unstable. No sudden movements."

He handed the core to Beast Boy, who held it aside as an octopus, ensuring that it could not suddenly detonate. This also happened to retrigger Starfire's allergies.

She jumped away from the other Titans as she sneezed, causing a massive displacement of the sewer water nearby. So, it was very wise of her to do that. A congested Starfire meekly stated, "Please continue" as she faced away from them, not wanting herself to cause a premature detonation and be responsible for freezing time forever in Jump City.

Cyborg brought up a design of the detonator on his forearm computer grid, which revealed the circuit design with three lights beneath it. He brought out his finger which revealed a torch.

He said, "Okay, now all we have to do is decouple the cables from the core and we should be good to go."

Cyborg then used his blowtorch to sever one of the cables running to the core. This soon caused the device to rapidly rotate and beep - this meant that the detonator was about to activate and freeze time forever.

Robin noted, "Well that doesn't sound good." Indeed, now they didn't have much time until the detonator activated.

* * *

Back with Raven and Slade, Raven had been forced onto the floor by Slade's brutal punch, struggling to get back up. Slade packed a pretty mean punch, one Raven was unsure she could defeat at this point.

Slade noted, "I understand your frustration Raven. You hate losing as much as I do. One of the many things we have in common." Being compared to Slade was one thing she hated, and Slade just had to do that.

Raven quickly arose with her eyes becoming four red ones and charged back at Slade, fueled purely by Rage. She delivered an unstoppable flurry of punches and kicks that badly beat up the criminal mastermind, and she finished him off with a blast of black energy that sent him spiraling into a nearby table.

With Slade out of the way, Raven's eyes returned to normal and she quickly retrieved the trigger to the Chronoton Detonator.

Raven snarled, "It's over." She held the trigger to Slade's master plan, but unnervingly for Raven, Slade didn't look any bit concerned or surprised.

Slade quickly rose and said, "On the contrary, Raven."

Raven was surprised as the trigger collapsed in her hands. It was nothing more than a fake. All that work and it wasn't even the real thing. That got Raven mad.

He continued, "This is only the beginning."

Raven shouted, "Where's the real trigger?" If need be, she was prepared to tear everything to the ground to find it and even shred Slade into little more than bone and flesh if necessary to stopping him.

Slade chuckled, "Trigger? There is no trigger...because there is no detonator." No detonator, then what were the Titans in the process of defusing? And if the detonator wasn't Slade's true plan, what was? This concerned Raven greatly.

* * *

Back with the Titans (who remained completely oblivious to what was going on in Slade's lair), the Chronoton Detonator continued to spin and beep wildly as if it was almost about to freeze time forever.

Cyborg whispered, "Moment of truth, y'all. Everybody ready?"

Beast Boy shrieked, "I can't watch!"

Cyborg's finger returned as a blowtorch and cut the other two cables on the detonator. The spinning and beeping finally stopped, signaling that the detonator was gone. The four Titans all gave a collective sigh of relief that the device was done. Or so they thought.

The detonator quickly resumed its spinning and beeping, now with an eery red glow as the top part of the device began to contract, signaling it was about to do what it was designed to do.

Beast Boy screamed, "We blew it! We'll be frozen in time forever!"

Just as it seemed like all was lost, like time was about to be frozen, the detonator suddenly collapsed into little more than scrap parts, into junk. It seemed anti-climactic, but if only the Titans knew what really was going on.

Beast Boy inquired, "Um, why aren't we frozen in time forever?"

Robin angrily responded, "Because this wasn't a chronoton detonator. It was a fake." So now all of the Titans know the truth, but now they need to know what was truly going on.

The Titans all regrouped nearby, beginning to think about what Slade was up to. Little did they notice (actually, they didn't notice) was a cannon aiming behind them that fired four blue blasts - one at each Titan that sent them into the sewer water.

Beast Boy spit out some of the sewer water and said, "So aside from the nasty taste of sewer water in my mouth, I think I'm okay."

Cyborg did some diagnostic checks to his systems and noted, "Diagnostic sensors say I'm just fine."

Robin commented, "Whatever the beam was supposed to do, it didn't do it."

Starfire questioned, "Then are we victorious?" The answer was no. In some eyes, the Titans had won the battle but had just lost the war. But in reality, it was more like, the Titans had just lost the battle and the war.

* * *

Back at Slade's base, four monitors popped up on his screen - one for each Titan: Beast Boy, Cyborg, Robin, and Starfire, each showing their vital signs and bloodstreams, with plenty of microscopic machines inside.

Slade explained, "Nanoscopic probes. The chronoton detonator was merely the bait for a much larger trap." So now it is revealed as he pulled a couple of buttons out from underneath his sleeve.

He continued, "You see, with the push of a button, my probes will destroy your friends from the inside out."

Slade followed by then pressing one of the buttons on his sleeve that then locked the door. He added, "The walls have been reinforced against teleporation. You can't get out, and don't bother trying to contact the Titans. I've also jammed your communicator. They can't track you nor can you tell them the truth."

Raven responded, "You can't control them. No matter what you threaten, they'll never obey you." And she was right about that, but that wasn't his intention.

"This isn't about your friends, Raven. This is about you. It's always been about you."

She shrieked, "What?"

Slade continued, "Sending trouble your way, leaving cryptic clues for you to unravel, I was testing you. For some time now, I have been looking for an apprentice. Someone to follow in my footsteps. And Raven, I've chosen you. Congratulations." Raven was not pleased to be named his apprentice.

She snarled, "You don't know anything about me."

"On the contrary, my dear. I know everything about you. I know that you hail from the dimension of Azarath, and was treated with only scorn because your father was Trigon the Terrible and you are the Gem of Skaath, his entry into this world. I know they hurt you so much that you were forced to flee to avoid them. I know your powers are directly linked to your emotional state, forcing you to remain completely numb at all times." How the hell did Slade know all of that? She never revealed any of it to the Titans nor in her room, so how the bloody hell did Slade know?

"No way would I ever work for you."

Slade questioned, "Would you like a demonstration of how the probes work? I thought you might."

Emerging on the screen was an unknown man, bound up and gagged. On the screen, Slade pressed a button similar to the one on his wrist now that controlled the probes.

Next to the man came a screen on his interior, monitoring the probes as they began to count down from 5:00, slowly causing the man to begin to feel much more brutal pain as the number counted down, as the probes began to break down all of his systems.

Raven watched with intent, horrified at what Slade had done to her friends, and saw that once the probes reached 0:00, the man, whose face had all but internally collapsed and his other systems completely ravaged, was long dead on the floor.

Slade continued, "And the timer on the probes does not reset. If you join me, if you swear to serve me, if you never speak to your 'friends' again, I will allow them to live. But, if you disobey even the smallest request, I will trigger the timer and the probes will begin killing your friends, and I will make you watch, Raven. This is also a dead man's switch, so if I die, your friends die. So, do we have a deal?"

Raven was in the mother of all predicaments. Fight against her friends to let them live or fight against Slade and kill her friends? She was damned if she did, damned if she didn't. As much as she hated Slade, she could not allow her friends to die.

Defeated, Raven slumped down to the floor, her will to fight Slade all but gone. He noted, "Good. And for your information, the probes have been designed so they could not survive in your body nor mine." There goes another possibility of trying to free herself and her friends.

* * *

Not knowing of the trouble they are in, nor about the whereabouts of Raven, the Titans were frantically trying to locate their missing friend.

Starfire was calling on her communicator, "Raven? Raven, please respond!" After lowering her communicator she asked, "Why does she not answer?"

Cyborg commented, "Her locator's been deactivated. We have no way to find her."

Beast Boy shrieked, "Not good. Not good at all."

The Tamaranean shouted into her communicator, "Raven, where are you? Please respond!"

Back in Slade's base, Slade has had Raven change outfits to symbolize her new alleigance to him. Instead of her black leotard, she now wore a metal half-black, half-orange leotard with matching black underwear and she wore a black cloak with a hood, much like her old one. Instead of a red jewel holding it together, it was a Slade insignia and her belt was now a collection of orange jewels. Now she looked like she was serving Slade, which was just how he liked it.

Slade passed by Raven's old uniform as he walked up to his new apprentice, telling her, "I know it seems bad now. But trust me, you'll learn to like it." Raven definitely does not want to like it, but she'll have to endure it until she can find some way to save her friends from Slade.

Slade walked away, leaving Raven to silently contemplate her new life as his apprentice.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Now that we have reached the point where Raven is Slade's apprentice, now you have to vote to see how _Second Chance_ ends. Go onto my author's page and respond in the poll. Whatever gets the most votes will be how the story ends. I will close the poll when we reach the penultimate chapter of the story.


	9. Training

**Author's Notes**

To guest, I'm still trying to conceive the ending - so I don't know how (or if) Raven gets out of her forced apprenticeship. Trigon, I doubt will be in the story, as we're not at that time yet (which would be around 2019 in this universe whereas it is only 2015 now). Terra will be in the story and soon make her debut, but Slade isn't targeting her as an apprentice (he learned from the URB that she wouldn't work out in the end). And we won't be going into _Deception_ (undercover in HIVE), well at least Raven won't.

To Angel of Azarath, I do need votes for the poll - I'd rather the ending of the story be influenced by more than **nine** people (that's how many have voted to date - I won't say what is leading at the moment, but there is a landslide at the moment. Question is, will it remain?)

To Midnight Lost, if you want the ending where Raven stays as Slade's apprentice, vote for it. Like I said, the ending with the most votes becomes the ending of _Second Chance_.

To LordMesirix, the URB told Slade how Robin and Terra both escaped from being his apprentice - Slade knows what to do in order to keep Raven from escaping. The probes were engineered so Raven couldn't infect herself or Slade and then force Slade to choose between killing the Titans or saving the apprentice (or himself). And the Titans won't know the truth for a while - they won't even know Raven is Slade's apprentice this chapter. And make sure to vote.

To everlostneverfound, Slade will likely be teaching Raven skills more with blasters and gadgets - don't expect to see Raven using her powers on the Titans all the time because Slade will eventually cut Raven off from her powers (you'll see later - by then you will also have seen Terra), for some missions. He won't be having Raven fight the Titans just yet - he needs the Titans alive to keep Raven in check, and he can't kill Raven (half-demon, remember?), and he definitely will be trying to improve Raven's physique (if you compare Slade and Raven, Slade physically towers over Raven). Like I said with the guest, we won't be seeing Trigon (the non-Rage Trigon) in this story.

**To readers:** Remember to vote in the poll on my page! You are choosing the ending of the story - if Raven stays with Slade, if Raven returns to the Titans, if Raven is physically okay - and I'd rather have as many people choose as possible. I want the ending the majority of the people want to be the ending I write - so speak up!

And there is a scene at the beginning that may strike you as a bit overly mature, but trust me, it does work in terms of the story, at least I think.

Now, let's continue the story.

* * *

September 21, 2015. Raven has agreed to become Slade's apprentice in order to save her friends from being destroyed by nanoscopic probes Slade had covertly inserted inside of them.

Now, it was time for Raven to get a new uniform - one that symbolized her new alleigance to Slade. The one-eyed madman brought Raven into what appeared to be a dressing room.

Slade calmly ordered, "Strip. I need to measure you."

Raven responded, "You could just ask for my measurements."

Slade countered, "Consider this a test of loyalty. Do as I say or I will trigger the probes."

Realizing the threat Slade posed to her friends, Raven reluctantly obliged, slipping off her boots, cloak, and leotard (which had her undergarnments sewn in), leaving her in full view of the madman. Raven silently dreaded every second she was standing there.

Slade mounted her old uniform on a nearby sculpture (like those in department clothing stores), as she wouldn't be needing it.

Raven anxiously asked, "Please tell me you aren't going to rape me."

Slade, who was grabbing a tape measure, replied, "You need not worry about that, Raven. It is against my code to rape and even if I wanted to, I'd do so if you were a virgin. Like I said, I know everything about you."

Slade walked back up to Raven and he began his measurements. He first measured her height at 5'1", or about three inches short of Robin and five inches taller than Beast Boy. Then, he weighed her and she came in at 110 pounds, which was less than half of what Slade weighed (230 pounds, much of which was muscle). Slade measured her cup size (which were D-size, much to her discontent - the perks of being a half-demon), her bust, and her waist, as well as her shoe size.

Slade walked out of the room and left Raven inside, covered only by a towel. A moment later, Slade came back in, holding what appeared to be a glue gun. Slade ordered Raven, "Hold still and pull out your arm."

Raven complied, leaving one arm to hold the towel over her body. With that, Slade pressed whatever-it-was into her arm and left a prick on her right arm.

Raven, in a bit of pain from the injection, healed the injury before asking, "What did you do?"

Slade responded, "That was a tracking chip I have embedded into your body. You cannot remove it even if you tried. It tracks where you are at all times within two feet as well as monitoring your vital signs. There is nowhere you can go that I cannot find you, that I cannot see you. So don't try escaping because it will only force me to trigger the probes. Now, get dressed."

Behind Raven quickly emerged her new uniform - a metal half-black half-orange leotard, a black cloak similar to the one she wore held together by a Slade insignia jewel, an orange-jeweled belt, and black flat-heel boots that reached halfway up her lower leg. Also next to the uniform was a pair of black undergarnments - a bra and panties.

Raven put on the bra and panties first, wanting Slade to have seen her in the nude for as little as possible, before putting on the leotard (which she found to be a little cold at first from the metal) and then the boots followed by her cloak.

Raven now stood in her new uniform for Slade to marvel at the half-demon. Slade walked up to her, walking past her old uniform, and noted "I know it seems bad now. But trust me, you'll learn to like it."

Slade left the dressing room, and Raven followed a few moments later. With that, Slade brought Raven to her new living quarters. It was a very simplistic room, with just a closet filled with two copies of the uniform she was wearing, a small desk with a pen and pencil, and a bed which Raven found was smaller than hers back at the Tower, but big enough to fit her.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Titans were still trying to locate Raven, and it has soon become nightfall in Jump City. Starfire is frantically calling in her communicator, "Raven? Raven. Please Raven, where are you?"

On her communicator, Robin noted, "Starfire, enough. You've been calling for forty-five minutes."

Starfire insisted, "Perhaps if I just try one more..."

Beast Boy responded, "Come on, Star. If she's gonna pick up, she'd have done it by now. Besides, you're kind of giving me a headache."

Starfire asked, "But why does she not respond? Where could she be?"

Over where Cinderblock was in the sewers when he attacked Raven, Cyborg commented, "Raven and Cinderblock definitely went a few rounds, but I can't tell who won or where they went." Slade's robots had previously picked up Cinderblock and returned him to Slade's base soon after he had acquired Raven as his apprentice. Well, Cyborg was right about there being a fight there - and that one of them definitely won over the other, but like the other Titans, he desperately needed answers.

Back at the Tower, Robin was monitoring the other Titans and their locations with a C, S, and B representing the location of their communicators. Cyborg was in the sewers, Starfire was in the middle of the city, while Beast Boy was checking the rooftops of the city.

Robin updated, "No sign of her here, either. Her locator is still offline, I've been monitoring all the frequencies, but she hasn't checked in." If only they knew she wasn't checking in because she couldn't check in.

Starfire cried out in her search, "Oh, we are bad friends! We should never have left Raven to do battle alone."

Beast Boy, now a human on one of the rooftops, complains, "Yeah, especially since Slade's doodad was a dud."

Robin, who was studying the fake Chronoton Detonator, commented, "The Chronoton detonator wasn't a dud. It was a decoy to lure us away from Raven - and we fell for it."

Cyborg punched a sewer wall and angrily yelled out, "I shoulda known the thing was fake!"

Starfire questioned, "But why? Why did Slade wish to separate us from Raven?"

Beast Boy continued, "And if the detonator was a decoy..."

Robin finished, "...what was Slade's real plan?"

* * *

September 22, 2015. The Titans had yet to find Raven, not that they were going to find her anytime soon. Slade was too well hidden for the Titans to find him, well except maybe for Raven, who was currently enslaved as his apprentice.

Raven was suddenly awoken from her sleep at around four o'clock in the morning with Slade's announcement, "Raven, report to the main room for your assignment."

Raven begrudgingly got up, put on the rest of her uniform and flew herself to the main room where Slade was waiting. Raven grumbled, "What do you need me to do now so early in the morning?"

Slade popped up onto the screen a schematic of Dalton Engineering. He explained, "I have a task for you. Dalton Engineering is engineering a thermal blaster. I want that blaster in my hands. Go to Dalton Engineering and steal it."

Raven questioned, "Anything I need to know for this mission?"

Slade answered, "Disable the guards if necessary. Take out the security cameras before they can spot you. And if the Titans happen to see you there, remember our arrangement. Do not speak to them, fight them if they refuse to let you leave. Understood?"

Raven replied, "Understood."

With that, she phased through the ceiling, heading towards Dalton Engineering. Slade watched several monitors on his screen - one that had Raven's heart rate and breathing, one that had her location in terms of coordinates and address, as well as a physical picture, one of Dalton Engineering, and one of Titans Tower, where the Titans were still trying to find Slade and Raven.

* * *

Raven used her soul-self to head towards Dalton Engineering and complete the task Slade had set for her. Hopefully she would be able to get in and out without any problems encountering guards (or the Teen Titans). She couldn't talk her way out of her predicament, especially with Slade's finger on the detonator that could cause their destruction at any waking moment.

Raven quickly entered the Dalton Engineering complex, bypassing the guards and soon finding herself in the vault containing the thermal blaster, which is currently surrounded by a glass container and two security cameras.

Raven knew she couldn't leave a trace if she didn't want the Titans to find out the truth. First, she used her black energy to shut down the two cameras by ripping out their power source. This triggered a minor alarm in the security but nothing urgent. There had been no signs of a break-in, not that one wasn't happening at that very moment.

With eyes blind to her moves (well, in Dalton Engineering, anyway), Raven used her powers to lift up the glass container in front of the thermal blaster while she swiped the blaster from the lab, lowering the container back onto the spot it was in.

With the job complete, Raven phased through the floor and headed back to Slade's base with her prize in tow.

A minute later, the door to the thermal blaster vault opened and two guards immediately noticed the blaster was gone. The first guard immediately rang the alarm, screaming, "They've taken the thermal blaster!"

They sent out an alarm to Titans Tower, and the four Titans immediately went on the scene, now distracted from their manhunt for Slade, to help solve this heist.

* * *

Raven returned with her pilfered thermal blaster back to Slade's base, where Slade noted, "Excellent, Raven. I'm pleased. You're already proving to be the perfect apprentice." Long by now, Slade had figured that and he is glad for choosing Raven over Robin, a decision that is paying dividends already.

Raven growled, "This deal can't last forever."

Slade responded, "It can and will." Popping up the screens with the Titans' vital signs and monitors showing the nanoscopic probes attached to their bloodstreams and organs, Slade continued, "The Titans still have no idea that my Chronoton Detonator was more than a decoy. Now that my probes are inside their bodies, they could remain undetected for years, decades even. Unless, of course, you choose to disobey me and I decide to destroy your _former_ friends with the push of a button."

Raven replied, "I wouldn't bet on that. The Titans are intelligent, they know by now the detonator was a decoy..."

Slade interrupted, "But for what, Raven? If they knew, I would bet that they would be right here trying to save you from me. Or perhaps trying to remove the probes from their own bodies. Look, Raven. The probes are still inside their system. They don't know they exist, and they aren't here. They don't know how I turned their resident half-demon into my apprentice, nor do they know that you are a half-demon."

Raven snarled, "You wouldn't dare tell them."

Slade questioned, "Wouldn't I? After all, they are no longer your friends. Even if they were, wouldn't friends tell each other everything? Especially what they were?" Raven was completely annoyed with Slade, ready to rip his throat out. Unfortunately, the trigger was a dead man's switch so if she killed Slade, she killed her friends. She could not live with that, even knowing who she really was.

He continued, "You are dismissed, Raven. Report to the gym at ten hundred hours for training."

Raven left Slade's main room in unquestionable anger while Slade began examining the thermal blaster, beginning to disassemble it.

* * *

Back at Dalton Engineering, the four Titans arrived at the scene in an attempt to figure out who broke into the building and stole the thermal blaster.

Robin asked, "Cyborg, you got any feed from the video cameras?"

Cyborg grimly responded, "No. Whoever disabled the cameras was very clever. They knew where the cameras were so they could disable them without the other noticing. No prints on the cameras either."

Beast Boy added, "No prints on the door or on the glass case. Whoever stole the blaster is obviously a metahuman."

Robin agreed, "That'd be my best guess. But which one, and why would they steal the thermal blaster?"

Cyborg said, "Based on the string of robberies, I'd bet one of Slade's goons stole it. The madman is always out looking at the tech sector." He was right about that, but he didn't know (along with the other Titans) that the goon that stole it happened to be their missing comrade.

Starfire came in and said, "I have finished doing the view of inter-ing with the employees. They say that they did not see anybody come into or out of the room for the entire hour range that the blaster was stolen. They only knew it was stolen when they came in after the pressure detector went off."

Robin commented, "We are definitely looking for a meta thief." If only they knew that Raven was no meta, but a half-demon. When would they find out? If Raven had her way, never. But she can't always have her way.

* * *

Raven arrived in the gym to begin her first training session with Slade. She knew that her activities would have some criminal level and he was probably testing her to see just what she was capable of.

Indeed, that was it. Upon her arrival, Slade checked the room clock and noted, "Perfect timing, Raven. Two minutes early. We can begin. First, a test of your strength. Go over to the weights."

Upon his request, Raven walked over to the weights, which ranged from one pound up to one ton and every weight in between. Raven thought, _Slade must really know how to work out. He probably isn't more than two hundred or so pounds and he's lifting a ton. How does that work?_

Slade ordered, "Lift up the ten pound weight."

Raven complied and picked up the ten-pound disk, hoisting it into the air. Slade asked, "How does it feel?"

Raven responded, "Fairly light, even though it is a significant portion of my weight."

Slade said, "Put it down and pick up the thirty."

Raven placed the ten-pound disk back on the rack and then picked up a thirty-pound barbell from the rack, holding it with both hands. Clearly, Raven was having some difficulty with it, since it was over a quarter of her body weight.

After a couple of minutes, Slade told Raven, "Put it down. Now, let's see how much your demon side can lift. From what I hear, it can lift several times what you can. Pick up the two hundred pound weight."

Raven used her demon side, summoning some of her father's demonic strength (which she hid to appear as less imposing), to pick up the two hundred pound block, holding it up with one hand, much like Raven did with the ten pound weight as a human.

Slade commanded, "That's enough, Raven. Put the weight down."

Raven complied and Slade continued, "That will be enough in the weight department. Now will be a test of your speed. Run the track."

Raven asked, "How long is the track?"

Slade said, "Half a mile per lap. Two laps around the track. And only use your legs. No levitation, no powers."

Raven moved towards the track near the weights and got ready to begin her run to see how fast she could run a mile. Slade yelled, "Begin" and Raven quickly began her sprint.

Raven was able to keep up a rapid sprint for the first lap but began to slow down in the second lap, something in her physiology that could not do such running in that much time. Perhaps her father did not want Raven to constantly run away.

Slade commented, "Ten minutes forty seven seconds, Raven. I am kind of disappointed, Raven. Your first half a mile came in at just three minutes thirteen seconds. You will need to be able to pick up the pace. One day, you might not be able to fly. It will happen, I guarantee it."

Raven asked, "What's next on the agenda?"

Slade responded, "A swimming lap. Change into the swimsuit I provided."

Raven inquired, "You never gave me a swimsuit."

Slade answered, "Not yet. It is over in that gym bag near the treadmill."

Raven walked over towards the treadmill and saw the gym bag. Raven quietly asked, "You're not expecting me to change here, are you?"

Slade said, "There's a small changing room near the pool. Next room over. You have two minutes."

Raven phased into the changing room next door and opened the gym bag to see her new swimsuit, which Raven had yet to acquire as a Titan since she was almost always going to be in uniform. It was a simple purple one-piece that had sleeves that went to halfway down her upper arms, large sections cut out in the back beneath her shoulder blades and on her abdomen, and firmly fit around her hips, giving her modesty.

Raven changed out of her uniform and quickly put on her swimsuit, which she did mildly find in poor taste, but it at least fit her. She then went into the pool, where Slade was waiting.

Slade said, "Now, Raven. Twenty laps across the pool. The depth varies from two and a half feet to nine feet. You must swim from the shallow end to the deep end and back. When you reach the deep end, you must touch a sensor placed five feet beneath the water level with your hands. A similar sensor is in place at the shallow end, six inches above the pool floor. You must touch this sensor as well, but with your feet."

Raven got into the water and waited for Slade to begin the timer. Slade clicked the start button and Raven began swimming to the other side, as best she could. In Azarath, she was never taught how to swim since there was no lake there. All she knew about swimming came from watching Aqualad in the ocean as well as watching other people.

She managed to get over to the deep end after much struggle, which Slade was watching, his mask hiding the disappointed look on his face upon Raven's problems.

Raven went underwater to try to touch the sensor, but as she got closer to the sensor, she suddenly began to choke, forcing her to surface before she could touch it.

She was forced to surface onto the pool surface as she tried to get the pool water out of her lungs, not noticing (or caring) about Slade coming close to her.

Slade asked, "What the hell happened Raven?"

Raven angrily responded, "I can't swim. I never learned how."

Slade countered, "Never learned how does not mean cannot."

"Why do I need to know how to swim?"

"Because I know your soul-self does not function in water, so you would have to swim through water in some cases. And trust me, you will have targets that will require an ability to swim."

"Will I learn how to swim?"

"You will learn, and you will be able to swim. Or your friends get it." Slade emphasized that last part so Raven clearly heard him - and that made her a little anxious.

"Understood."

"Good. You are dismissed for now. And if you are wondering about food, there is a little challenge for it. The kitchen, next to the robot repair room."

* * *

About two hours later, Raven began to get hungry. As a half-demon, Raven didn't need to eat as often as a human, but she still needed sustenance in order to survive.

She phased over towards the kitchen, which was clearly labeled, and opened the door. She was surprised that Slade was not there as he was busy with monitoring the Titans and others.

Raven went over to the refrigerator and saw that Slade had left a note. It said:

_To get your meal, insert the year Montcalm died into the padlock._

Raven inserted into the padlock 1-7-6-3, as Montcalm died in 1763 at the Battle of Quebec. She saw that Slade had left her a salami wrap and a bottle of water.

Raven theorized that Slade intended to test her intellect in order to get food, which could be better based on her performance in future tasks. He was definitely pissed off by her inability to complete the pool exercise - let alone one lap.

Raven ate her lunch in solitude before returning to her room, reading the book on philosophical torture Slade had left for her.

* * *

**Remember to vote in the poll!**


End file.
